The Switch
by Misao2008
Summary: the day started out normal enough, but things start getting crazy when a salesman from China comes. He claims to be selling Jusenyo cures, but this is all part of his plan. can Mousse, Ryoga,Ranma,&Shampoo get back to normal? Sequel to Mousse's New Love.
1. The Salesman From China

**The Switch**

" "= Talking

' '= Thinking

- -=Change in time and/or location

**Chapter 1: The Salesman from China**

Here it is, the sequel you've all been waiting for. Thank you all for reading my last story, and for anyone who hasn't read it, I suggest you do, (it's not necessary, but you would have a better understanding) and thank you for your criticism as well, I will try to fix my location problem but I don't really know how close any of the places are to each other, for example, I know that Ukyo's is near Furinkan High, but not the direction it's in. So if someone could help me with locations, I would greatly appreciate it. I also received quite a few complaints (not that I mind, I like to know what I'm doing wrong) about my story being rushed, I'm very sorry (gomen nasai) but it's not as though I haven't tried, I just can't think of anything else to add; So if you have any ideas you'd like me to add please tell me, I will gladly accept any suggestions. Oh, and if you'd like, I've been thinking of adding an extra chapter to Mousse's New Love, where Karen meets Kuno, maybe I'll do a poll…enough of that, on with the story!

(about a month after the events in Mousse's New Love)

It was a pleasant Autumn day in Nerima, and Mousse and Karen had decided to go for a walk, Karen had insisted they go back to the forest (where Mousse trained to master the Amagariken (ch.8, Mousse's New Love) so that's where they were headed.

"It's such a beautiful day, what do you think Mousse? Isn't the weather perfect!?" Karen asked happily.

"Well, it's not raining, and not too hot, so I guess so…" Mousse replied, "It would be a nice day for a picnic, too bad we didn't bring any food…" He added.

"You _sure_ you don't have anything?" Karen asked while pulling on his sleeve. "I thought you said that you always came prepared."

"I do, but if I carried food with me, it would go bad…sorry, but I don't have anything." He said.

"Then maybe we should go back, I could make a special lunch!" She said the last part rather happily.

"Special _how_?" Mousse asked.

"…uh, well _I'd _be making it, so…" Karen started blushing "F-forget it, let's just go back so I can make lunch." She said before running off, or, _trying_ to run off, instead she tripped, and ran into someone…"I-I'm sorry! I wasn't paying attention." She said to the stranger.

"No, no, don't apologize. In fact I'm glad you ran into me, I've been looking for you." He pointed at Mousse. "You Mousse, no?" he said.

"Huh? Who are you? And how do you know my name?" Mousse asked the man.

"I salesman from China, I come here to sell exotic merchandise, I sure I have something that interest you." The salesman said as he reached into his bag.

"Salesman from China? But that doesn't explain how you know me." Mousse said.

"Look here. I have packet from Jusenkyo, use and it will cure you." Said the Chinese salesman.

"**_R-really_**?" Mousse said excitedly, forgetting his suspicion. "How much do you want for it?"

"For you, I give it free." He said suspiciously.

"_Free_?" Mousse thought about this for a moment, _'No way, nothing in my life is ever that simple…last time I fell for something like this I ended up wasting my money on a packet that probably wasn't the right one…' _"What's the catch? Nothing in life is ever free. I don't trust you…I bet that packet is defective." (Reference to episode 117 'Back to the way we were please'-If you want to know more watch the episode, I do not want to spoil anything for you)

'_He's suspicious, I guess I'll have to do this hard way.'_ The Chinese man thought. "You sure you not want it? I even give you bucket of water, see?" He said as he pulled out a bucket of water from seemingly nowhere.

"No thank you, I'd rather be safe than sorry. At least I'm not a bull riding a yeti carrying a chicken and an eel!" Mousse said, and was about to walk away when…

"That's to bad, all you have do was pour this packet in water," The salesman said while emptying the packet into the bucket, "and then dump it on you, like so!" The Chinese salesman shouted as he splashed the water on Mousse.

"Hey! What are you…" Mousse stopped when he realized what he'd turned into. "_**I-I-I'M A GIRL!!?"**_ 'she' yelled. "You'll pay for that you stupid…" Mousse was about to strangle the salesman but he wasn't there. "Where did he go!? I knew he was up to no good." While Mousse was furiously shouting, Karen was wondering where the salesman had gone.

'…_Why did he come after Mousse? I can understand why someone would be after Ranma, but…'_ "Ranma!" She suddenly shouted.

"Huh? What about Ranma!?" Mousse asked.

"What if he tricks the others too?" Karen asked worriedly.

Mousse thought about this for a moment "…Hahaha! Yes, that would be great, I think I'll wait until after he finds Ranma to get my revenge."

'…_right, he still doesn't get along with Ranma…'_ "What about Shampoo? Or Ryoga?" She added.

"Shampoo? Turning into something other than a cat? . . . What if she's…turned into a pig!? That would be terrible!!" Mousse yelled, "I, I mean, _we_, have to go warn her!"

"What about Ryoga?" Karen asked while following Mousse, "If his curse is switched Akane will find out."

"…Even so…do you _really _think we'd be able to find him in time?" Mousse replied. "He's probably wandering around in Nagoya now. If you insist then I _suppose_ we can look for him _after_ we warn Shampoo." He…uh 'she' added.

-Meanwhile, wandering around in Nagoya…-

'_My dear Akane, why is it so hard to find you? Surely your house is around here somewhere.' _Ryoga thought, completely unaware that he was in Nagoya, not Tokyo…

"Excuse me sir, but you look troubled, might I offer my assistance?" The Chinese salesman asked Ryoga.

"I'm sorry, but unless you can tell me how to get to Nerima, I really don't need anything." Ryoga said to the salesman then headed off.

"That's too bad, and here I have one Jusenkyo cure left, I guess I find other person to give to." The salesman turned to walk the other way, but was quickly intercepted by Ryoga.

"J-_**Jusenkyo **_cure? _Really?_ How much does it cost?" Ryoga asked rather quickly.

"H-how did you get back here so fast?" The salesman was a bit surprised by Ryoga's speed. "Since you ask so nicely, I give you free." He said as he handed the packet to the clueless Ryoga_. 'Two down, two to go…'_ he thought as he headed for Tokyo.

'_With this, I'll finally be able to face Akane, and tell her how I really feel! Oh Akane, my love!!!'_ Ryoga thought happily while running to find water. "Wait, do I need hot or cold water? Hmm :**To use, pour packet into **_**cold water only**_**. Stir into water, and dump on cursed object (WARNING: DO **_**NOT**_** USE ON FEMALES, FOR USE ON **_**MEN ONLY**_**)**" Ryoga read. "Cold water? That's odd…oh well, I'm sure there's a reason. Now if I could just find a bathhouse…

-10 minutes later, Ryoga gets lost…-

"…How did I end up in the forest!? I'm never going to find water now!" Ryoga yelled "huh? Hey, there's a river over there, my luck has turned around! Now all my dreams will become possible!" Ryoga shouted before running to the waters edge and filling up his teakettle(the closest thing to a bucket he had) "Okay now I empty the packet into the water, and stir it in…" Ryoga followed the instructions closely before pouring it on himself… "now I should be normal again!" -Splash- "…_Quack_…**QUACK QUACK!!!** (huh… **WHAT THE HECK!!?**)" Ryoga, now a duck, quacked loudly as he ran in circles. "_**QUACK?**_ Quack quack!?(_**WHY?**_ Why am I a duck!?)" _'__**Quaack!**__ Quack quack! __**QUACK QUACK**__!!(__**grrr!**__ That salesman tricked me!! __**He'll pay for that!!**__)'_ Ryoga thought angrily while he started a fire to heat the cold river water.

-Back in Nerima, Mousse (still a girl) and Karen (more worried about Ryoga) arrive at the Cat Café-

"Shampoo!! Are you here!!?" Mousse yelled when he got inside.

"Be quiet! You'll scare away the customers!" Cologne shouted as she walked from the kitchen. "I thought you said you'd never come back here and…_Mousse_?" She said when she noticed 'her' standing there. "W-what's going on?" She asked.

"I came here to warn Shampoo! Where is she!? This is important!" Mousse yelled.

"_What _do you need to warn her about." This time it was more of a demand than a question.

"We ran into a salesman earlier, he said he had a cure for Mousse's curse, Mousse refused but when we tried to walk away he dumped a bucket of water on Mousse…and then Mousse turned into a girl instead of a duck…I'm worried that this man may be after the others too, Mousse insisted we come here first, I hope Ryoga's okay…" Karen explained quickly.

"What? A salesman from China? Shampoo is out on a delivery…as much as I hate the thought of leaving it up to you, I can't leave the café right now. You two go find Shampoo and warn her, _**quickly!**_ She was making a special delivery to Ranma." Cologne shouted as she shoved them both out the door.

"Ranma? She's delivering something to Ranma!? I _**want**_ him to be tricked!" Mousse angrily said as they ran toward the Tendo's.

"…What about Ryoga? Shampoo is smart, she wouldn't be easily fooled, but _Ryoga_…if I dresses up and said I was his mom he'd probably believe me…can't we find Ryoga first?" Karen asked.

"We'll never find him in time, Shampoo is closer!" Mousse replied.

Unfortunately for him, they were already to late to help either Ryoga _or_ Shampoo…

"**OINK!!OINK!!!(Stupid man!! I make you pay!!!)**" Shampoo was oinking loudly while running after the salesman, but unfortunately for her, he was too fast and got away. "Oink…oink…(Come…back…)" She oinked tiredly before stopping to rest, it was right about then that Mousse and Karen ran by…

Mousse stopped and quickly turned around when he noticed the pig. "…You…wouldn't happen to be Shampoo…would you?" he asked the pig.

"_Oink_…_**!**_(_**stupid**_)" Shampoo responded by kicking his face.

"Ow! Why'd you kick me?" Mousse asked while he rubbed his forehead. By now Karen had noticed, and, needless to say, wasn't to happy about the kick to the face Mousse just received.

"_**Hey!**_ Don't treat Mousse that way!" She yelled at the pig.

"_Oink!(hmf!)_" Shampoo turned her head and ignored them.

"**Ohh! **Stop actin' all high and mighty!" Karen said angri1y.

"…It's definitely Shampoo…if he was able to trick her, then he's probably gotten the others too." Mousse said. "Come on Shampoo, we should go back to the café. Maybe Cologne will know more."

"_**Oink!(No!)**_" Shampoo refused.

'_I had a feeling this would happen'_ Mousse thought. "Then I guess you'd rather be a pig than a cat. I mean, sure Ranma won't be afraid of you anymore…but at least you were still cute." Mousse said casually.

"_**Oink!?**_ **Oink**…oink.(_**What!?**_ **Fine**…I'll go.)" She reluctantly agreed, and then followed them.

Once they reached the Cat Café, and Shampoo and Mousse were returned to normal, Cologne asked them to explain exactly what had happened, starting with Shampoo.

"All right Shampoo tell you what happen." She started, "I was making special delivery for Ranma, I just finish delivering when strange man appear. He say he from China, that he came to sell 'exotic merchandise', then he say have packet from Jusenkyo. I refuse when he says is free, I knew he was up to something but when I go turn around to leave he jump me and splash with water. Then I was pig!" She explained. "Why he turn me into _**pig!?**_ Now Ranma never love me!" Shampoo yelled unhappily.

"hmm…all right, now it's your turn Mousse, how did he trick you?" Cologne asked.

"I wasn't tricked! It was the same as what happened to Shampoo, he said he was a salesman from China, then tried to 'give me' a 'cure' I knew something was up when he offered it for free, so I declined it, and tried to leave, but when I turned my back to him he splashed water on me…that's really all there is to tell." Mousse explained.

"…he's come to Japan for you two, then he'll probably go after Ranma too, if he hasn't already; and if my premonition is correct, will most likely become a cat." Cologne said.

"A _**cat**_!?" shampoo yelled. "Why you think that?"

"Shampoo, your worst fear is for Ranma to dislike you, therefore by turning you into a pig, that just may happen. As for Mousse, well, you look like a girl anyway…" Cologne explained.

"Hey! What do you mean, _'I look like a girl anyway'_? I do not!" Mousse protested.

"We must go tell Ranma! I no want him be scared of own reflection." Shampoo shouted.

"All right, but hurry you may already be to late." Cologne said.

'_I really don't want to help Ranma but…I can't let that salesman get away with this!'_ Mousse thought before following the others out the door.

-While Mousse, Shampoo, and Karen were heading to the Tendo's, the salesman was already arriving there…-

"-Yawn-What a great day for a nap…if I leave now I won't have to eat Akane's cooking." Ranma said to himself as he walked out of the house.

"Hello sir, you wouldn't happen to be Ranma Saotome, would you?" the Salesman asked.

"Yeah, I'm Ranma, what do you want?" Ranma replied rudely.

"I've been sent here to deliver this." He said, showing Ranma a red packet. "It from Jusenkyo, you put in cold water, then dump on self. Then you be cured." The salesman said.

"Really!? You serious?" Ranma yelled excitedly.

"Why would I lie? Use this packet, and never turn girl again." _'no, instead you turn to cat.'_ He added mentally.

"I'll take it!" Ranma yelled as he swiped the packet away from the salesman and ran back in the house to try it…

-a short distance down the road-

"Do you think we'll make it in time?" Karen asked Mousse, they were almost at the Tendo's.

"I hope so" he replied.

"But didn't you _want_ him to be tricked?" Karen asked curiously.

"If we're lucky we'll arrive as the salesman is leaving." Mousse replied. **–THWAK!-** Shampoo hit him over the head. "Ow! What did you do that for Shampoo?" He shouted while rubbing his head.

"That what you get for talk bad about Ranma! We here, I no see man! Maybe we make it in time." Shampoo said when they arrived at the dojo.

"**MEEEEEOOOOOOW!!"** A load screech could be heard from inside the Tendo's house.

"…You think that…" Karen started.

"Judging my the loudness of that meow, I'd say yes, it's safe to bet that Ranma is now a cat…" Mousse answered.

"Ranma, Shampoo help you!!!" Shampoo ran into the house, and the others followed. When they got to where the meow came from, they found a cat with a pigtail lying on the floor unconscious.

"Ranma! Here!" Shampoo said as she poured hot water on him.

"**AAAHHHH!!! CAT CAT I WAS A CAAAAAAT!!!!!"** Ranma screamed when he came to.

Calm down, you're okay now." Karen said, holding her hands on her ears.

"Yeah Ranma, there's no need to scream so loud." Mousse said.

"Huh? Mousse, Karen, and Shampoo too? What are you doing here?" Ranma asked.

"We came to warn you about the salesman, but fortu-" Shampoo started glaring at Mousse "-UN-fortunately, we were too late." Mousse said.

"How did you know about him?" Ranma asked.

"…" Mousse didn't answer.

**-Splash-** Karen dumped a bucket of cold water on Mousse and Shampoo. "See, this is how they know, but they were splashed from behind, they didn't actually fall for the salesman's tricks, you must be stupid." Karen said bluntly.

"W-What!?" Ranma said. 'I thought she was timid…'

"_**Hey! **_What did you do that for?" Mousse shouted.

"Oink!!(Stupid girl!)"

"Sorry, but if left up to you we would be here for hours, we should regroup at the Cat Café tomorrow and try to figure out what's going on, we should look for Ryoga too…Since Mousse is a girl, Ranma's a cat, and Shampoo's a pig the…That means Ryoga's a duck…I think…" Karen said.

"Ryoga will probably be here in a week." Mousse said.

"A week?" Karen asked.

"It usually takes him a week to reach his destination, even if it's only a couple feet away…" Mousse explained.

"Oh right, he gets lost easy. Come on Mousse, we should go home, I mean, back to _your_ house, we'll have a better chance of figuring this out without those idiots.(Karen's still angry at Shampoo for hitting Mousse earlier, it would have broken out into a fight if Ranma hadn't Meowed)" Karen said while attempting to drag him out the door.

"Now I agree that _**Ranma's**_ an idiot, but _**Shampoo **_isn't…okay, she wouldn't want to help anyway…" Mousse gave in and let her drag him out the door. '…why do I always listen to her?' Mousse wondered while he followed her down the road. "So we're going to the Cat Café tomorrow?" He asked.

"uh, yes, I want to find out more about this man, I'll make him pay for what he did too you!" She said angrily.

"You make it sound like he tried to kill me, turning into a girl isn't that bad, at least I can still use my weapons." Mousse said.

"It is that bad! Why couldn't you have turned into a cat instead? You were much cu-…Uh-nevermind that! We'd better get foam haster, I mean foam faster, no HOME faster, we need to find a way to locate the salesman." She said awkwardly.

'…_was she about to say…cuter?'_ Mousse wondered.

End of chapter 1

Author's Notes: F-I-N-A-L-L-Y!! It took much longer than expected but here it is. I hope I did better this time, and please tell me if you notice any mistakes. This chapter was over 3000 words, wow, that's my longest one yet! I don't want to rush and I still have to do a little work with the plot, so don't expect me to update as often as I did last time. And if you know any decent Chinese names **please tell me. **On a side note, since I have watched almost all the Ranma episodes (not the OVA's) and the first two movies now, I will be referencing to them a bit more(in other words, if the current situation is familiar to something in the series, Mousse, or the other characters will remember it) but I will try my best not to spoil anything for you, if such a thing occurs I will put the episode number, and name, nothing more. Remember to review if you like my story, or if you have any questions or complaints too.


	2. The Meeting

**The Switch**

' '= Thinking

" "= Talking

- -= Change in time an/or location

**Chapter 2: The Meeting**

_**(uh...now that I look at it the beginning is terrible... um, I might update this chapter later, don't let the into fool you, it gets better towards the middle.-Misao2008**_)

-The next morning (6:30), Mousse's house-

"Wake up Mousse!" Karen shouted while gently shaking him.

"hmm…" Mousse sat up and put his glasses on. "It's only six…" he mumbled tiredly. "come back when it's light out." He said before lying back down.

"Come on! We have work to do, get up!" she shouted, but to no avail. So she left…and came back with a bucket of water. "All right, this is your last chance to get up peacefully." She said holding the bucket over him.

"…"(He fell back asleep)

"You asked for it." Karen said as she dumped the water on him.

"Hey! What did you do that for!?" Mousse shouted.

"That's what you get for sleeping in." she stated.

"**_Sleeping in_**!?" h-_She_ shouted, "It's only six!"

"We have to get an early start if we want to find the salesman." Karen explained, "Do you want _Ranma_ to find him first?" She added innocently.

"No way! I'll be the one to find him, and when I do I'll make him pay!" Mousse shouted as he…'she' quickly got to her feet.

'_As long as he dislikes Ranma, I can get him to do anything.'_ Karen thought victoriously. "Okay then! You get ready while I get a map." She said.

"A map? What for?" Mousse asked curiously.

"To find Ryoga of course, by the time he gets here the salesman will have been long gone." She replied before leaving the room.

Mousse was ready in record time, there was no way he was going to let Ranma beat him at anything. Mousse went to get Karen when he(yes Mousse is a boy again) was ready, and found her sitting in the middle of the floor reading a map. "What are you doing? How is that going to help us find Ryoga?" Mousse asked curiously.

"hmm…If Ryoga was indeed in Nagoya, and he tried to come here from there then…he'd end up going in the opposite direction…So he'd go to Kyoto, then Osaka, then back to Kyoto, and by tomorrow end up back in Nagoya…How long does it take to walk to Nagoya?" She asked.

"Too long…but if we wait another day we might be able to find him in Nagano." Mousse replied.

"…_Nagano_? Isn't that where he started from?" She asked.

"No, Nagoya and Nagano are two different places." He explained.

"Oh, okay…I don't get it." She answered cluelessly.

"…Never mind, he won't be there for at least another two days, weren't we supposed to go to the Cat Café?" Mousse asked.

"Right. We need to find out more about this mysterious salesman." Karen said. "Okay, let's go!" She got up and headed to the door.

-A few minutes later, at the Cat Café(it's 7:00now)-

"Hey Cologne, are you here?" Karen shouted while knocking on the door.

They heard the reply 'I'm sorry, we're not open yet.' from behind the door.

"I didn't come here to eat! We were supposed to come here, didn't Shampoo tell you?" Karen yelled, knocking harder.

"Hm?" Cologne opened the door. "Oh, so it's you two. I didn't expect you to arrive this early." Cologne said.

"Neither did I, she's the one who_ insisted_ we come early" Mousse said pointing to Karen.

"Well I don't want that man to get away, we've got to find him!" Karen said. "So, does this mean we're the only ones here?" She asked.

"Well, Shampoo is here working, I don't expect Ranma to come for another hour at least, unless…Akane is cooking breakfast…and Ryoga won't find his way here for another week." Cologne answered.

"Oh…But that doesn't matter, Ranma isn't that smart anyway, and Ryoga…is hopeless. Besides that, you, Shampoo, and Mousse are all from China right? So you three would have the best chance at figuring out who that man was." Karen said cheerfully.

"Is she always this…_energetic_?" Cologne asked Mousse.

"She has been for as long as I've known her…" He replied. "But she does have a point, we_ are_ the only ones who actually know anything about China." He added.

"All right," Karen shouted, "Let the meeting commence!…Where is Shampoo?" She asked while looking around.

"Shampoo is upstairs, _**please **_try to _**get along**_, I don't want any damage to the café." Cologne said.

"…uh…Okay, as long as she doesn't say anything bad about Mousse." Karen replied slowly, before running upstairs.

"Mousse," Cologne said once Karen was gone, "Please stop them if they start fighting."

"I'll try." He replied.

"Then again, I can always make _you _pay for the damages." She added.

"Are you kidding!? I could never afford that!" Mousse shouted. "No, no problem, if they start fighting I'll just take Karen and leave." He said before quickly walking upstairs.

When Mousse got to Shampoo's room he found the two girls glaring at each other.

"…Well, what you come for?" Shampoo asked rudely.

"I thought we agreed to meet here. Or do you like being a pig?" Karen replied unhappily

'_Not good, they've only been in the same room for a few minutes and they're already arguing, I better do something before this turns into a fight and…uhh.'_ The thought of the damage bill was enough to motivate him. "Now, now, you two shouldn't be fighting…we…are suppose to be working together, why don't you call a temporary ceasefire?" He reasoned.

"**Fine!"** They both shouted as they sat down on the floor.

"Good, now we need to figure out why we were targeted." Mousse said as he sat down.

"And how we do that?" Shampoo asked.

"Hmm, well, other than being cursed, what else do we have in common?" Mousse asked.

"Maybe we do something to him, and he come for revenge." Shampoo suggested.

"I can understand Ranma getting into trouble, but that doesn't explain why he's targeting the _others_." Karen said.

"_**Others? **_What about_ Shampoo_?" Shampoo asked, her temper rising.

"Calm down, there's no need to get angry. Remember the temporary ceasefire." Mousse said, interrupting their argument.

"Okay." Karen said. "hmm…"

They all thought about this for a while before Karen thought of something.

"I've got it!!" Karen yelled, startling the others.

"Huh, what did you come up with?" Mousse asked.

"It's all Ranma's fault!" She yelled.

"…You can't blame _everything _on Ranma," Mousse said.

"How dare you blame Ranma!" Shampoo shouted.

"Wait. Let me explain, I mean that it's Ranma's fault that you two, and Ryoga were cursed. For Ryoga it was because Ranma knocked him into Jusenkyo, for you Shampoo, it was because he lied and said he was a girl, and for you, Mousse, it was because he defeated you so you went to Jusenkyo to train. and Ranma's got it worse than anyone, he turns into a cat, his worst fear."

"hmm…Maybe but that no explain why he targets others." Shampoo said.

"Hmm…" They sat thinking for a few more minutes before…

"_**Aiyaa!!**_ I got it!" Shampoo yelled.

"What? What did come up with!?" Mousse and Karen asked.

"Something like this happen before, remember, we kidnapped by Secret Jusenkyo Punishment force, Maybe they come back to try again." Shampoo said. (reference to ep.48 'The Killer from Jusenkyo')

"That's right, but that means…he could already be back in China by now." Mousse said.

"Maybe we could get Akane and Ukyo to help." Karen suggested.

"Yeah, if we got their help we'd be able to search much faster." Mousse said.

"No way! Shampoo no let them help! Ranma _mine_!" Shampoo yelled.

"Then we can split into groups, Ranma can go alone, you can go with Ukyo, Akane can go with Ryoga, if he ever shows up, and_ I _can go with _Mousse_." Karen said the last part happily.

"Ranma go alone?" Shampoo said.

"Why not? If Ryoga and Akane are paired up, then you won't have to worry about Ranma…" Karen said, she was slightly concerned as to how Mousse would react to this.

"_**Aiyaa!**_Shampoo see now. Yes, pair Ryoga with Akane good." Shampoo sad happily. "What if Ryoga no come?" She asked.

"Him finding his way here is very unlikely, so I've decided that _**Mousse and I**_ will go look for him tomorrow." Karen replied.

"Yes, is good. You take Mousse, go look." Shampoo said happily.

"…_**Hey!**_ You just want Mousse to go away! That's not nice, apologize!" Karen yelled when she noticed Mousse becoming depressed.

"Why Shampoo apologize!? What you care, you want be with Mousse, no?" Shampoo said angrily.

"…I-…even if I _did_, er I mean _do_…uh…it doesn't matter what I want, I'm more concerned bout _his_ happiness, so apologize already!" Karen shouted.

"No it's fine, really. Please don't start fighting." Mousse pleaded, but to no avail.

"**NO!** Shampoo no apologize." She said angrily.

"**Apologize!**" Kare shouted back.

**"NO!!"**

It looked as though a fight could break out any minute…_** "STOP!" **_Mousse shouted, "K-Karen don't we have to go look for Ryoga? I-if we start today we might find him sooner." He said as he grabbed her arm gently and started pulling her to the door.

"But she hasn't apologized yet!" Karen yelled as she was being pulled down the stairs.

"Really, I don't mind. I'm used to being treated that way." Mousse said. "but…thank you for standing up for me…" He said when they reached the bottom of the stairs.

"You don't have to thank me." Karen said cheerfully, "I'll happily defend you anytime."

"…really?" Mousse smiled, "Well we should go now," He said while walking to the door, _"I don't want to end up paying for the damages…" _He said to himself.

"Huh? Did you say something?" Karen asked.

"No, nothing." He quickly replied, and then they both walked off.

"Are we _really _going to look for Ryoga?" Karen asked after they'd been walking for a while. "Didn't you say we'd wait until tomorrow?)

"Well, if you want to. I just said that to stop you from fighting." Mousse replied.

"oh…I'm sorry…" She said sadly.

"What? _**No**_, what are you apologizing for? You didn't do anything wrong, some people just don't get along." He said trying to cheer her up.

"Okay, but I didn't tell Shampoo when to start searching." Karen said.

"That's okay, we can start looking for the salesman tomorrow. That way we can look for Ryoga too." Mousse said. "For now _**I suppose**_ we could look around a bit."

"So what exactly did happen before? Shampoo said something about a secret punishment force, what did they do?" She asked.

"Hmm…It's a pretty long story, we won't accomplish much searching on our own so why don't we go home so I can tell you about it instead." Mousse said.

"Okay!" Karen said happily.

After they got back home, Mousse told Karen about the Jusenkyo Punishment Force, and why they had come to Japan…

**End of Chapter**

Author's Notes:Okay, time to clear up a few things: First of all ,yes, I know cluelessly isn't a word, but I couldn't find anything else to put in that fit the way I wanted it; Secondly, about the reference to ep.48 I try not to give away any more details about the series than necessary, that is why I didn't include Mousse's explanation of what happened, if you want to know, watch the episode; and lastly, I know this chapter was short, and I am sorry, but It wouldn't work if I added more here. Other than that I am happy to say I've done a little research, and now have a few Chinese names to use, though I will still take suggestions. I should also take this opportunity to tell you that my school finals are coming up next week, they will be Monday and Tuesday. I may not be able to update then, if anything comes up I will add it to my profile. And please review, I can't improve if I don't know what you think._ ...the more I read it the worse it sounds, I know some of the lines aren't put together well, I will try and fix them later, if you have any suggestions please tell me. **I forgot to mention this, I have started another poll, this one will determine the future of my story, so please vote**_

**_I just wanted to tell everyone that I will be using a drawing I made of Karen as my avatar, I only plan on keeping it for a week, so if you want to know what she looks like you should check now, I do not know if I will do this again.-Misao, 4/21/09_**


	3. The Search

**The Switch**

First of all, I'd like to comment on a review I got from Digitaldragonprodutions, Okay, I know I'm not the best writer in the world, heck, I never thought I was even good. I know I have my flaws, and as I said in the first chapter, I'm trying my best. Criticism is good, and even complaining, but I'm proud of the way I did chapter 1, and don't plan on rewriting it. I know I asked for _suggestions_, but they have to come _before _I update, I won't go back and redo everything. I don't want to sound mean, or ungrateful, but putting a _whole paragraph_ of 'what could of happened' isn't really something I like to get, Yes, I know I could have had Shampoo find Ranma first, but I'm no good when it comes to 'multiple character'(more than two at once) fight scenes, and would have ended up with writers block; and while the thought of Akane thinking Shampoo was p-chan didn't cross my mind, it wouldn't work anyway because ***slight spoiler*** I already have plans for Ryoga's secret, and how Akane will find out. Though I've yet to think of a suitable reaction from Akane(Which I wouldn't mind _suggestions _for) So please feel free to _comment, suggest, criticize, or complain,_ but I want my story to be _my own_, without_ too much_ influence from others. I do appreciate your advise on the locations though. Oh and, please don't say too much about Ranma's mom, I know who she is, but have not gotten that far in the Manga or Anime, please do not spoil it for me. (And Mousse does consider himself lucky to still be human, he just hasn't said anything yet)

Enough of that, on with my story!

**Chapter 3: The Search**

-The next day, Ryoga could be found walking through the forests of Japan…-

"All right, the map says to turn right here, my instinct tells me to go that way soo, this time I'll go the other way." Ryoga said to himself as he turned right, reading his upside-down map… _'I just know this is Ranma's fault! Everything that happens to me is his fault…sure, I got lost on my way to the empty lot, but he could have waited another day! And to think I followed him all the way to China, only to be knocked into a cursed spring…'_ "Curse you Ranma Saotome!!" Ryoga yelled angrily as he walked on…and got even more lost.

-Back in Nerima, Mousse, Ranma and the rest of the gang were preparing to search for the salesman-

"All right! Karen shouted, "Now that everyone is gathered here I have an important announcement to make." She said as if she'd rehearsed. "Today we will search for the Chinese salesman, we will be splitting into groups, Shampoo and Ukyo will stay here and search Nerima, Ranma will go on his own and search the nearby forests, and Mousse and Akane will come with me to look for Ryoga, and the salesman." Karen paused. "At this time I would also like to ask everyone to keep an eye out for Ryoga as well, we could use his help……"

"…She sure makes herself sound important, I bet she's doing this for the attention." Ranma said to Akane, while Karen was going on with her speech.

"_**Ranma!**_ That's rude!" Akane yelled while hitting him hard with a mallet she pulled out of nowhere.

"Yeah! How dare you suggest such a thing, she's doing it for _**you**_ and the _others_, not for herself!" Ukyo yelled, hitting him with her giant spatula.

"Oww…" Ranma said before falling unconscious, Karen was to occupied with her speech to notice the 'commotion'.

"Umm…do you think we might have overdone it?" Ukyo asked Akane.

"…I guess he can't help if he's unconscious, but I say he got what he deserved, he'll wake up eventually." Akane replied angrily (still angry at Ranma not Ukyo)

"_**Aiyaa!**_ What you do to my Ranma!?" Shampoo yelled when she noticed him.

"_**Your **_Ranma!? The two girls shouted back.

"Since when is Ranma-honey _**yours**_?" Ukyo shouted. "Since when does Ranma belong to _**you**_!?" Akane shouted (They both shout at the same time)

"…We will meet back here tonight at 8:00, and share any information we might have acquired. That is all, everyone should pair with their designated group and start the search." Karen finished, and noticed what was going on. "…um…why is Ranma lying on the ground?" Karen asked.

"It Akane fault!" Shampoo shouted.

"_**My **_fault!? Well _**excuse me**_, he shouldn't have been talking about Karen that way! How is his stupidity _my_ fault?" Akane yelled furiously.

"You want fight? Shampoo take you on!" Shampoo shouted pulling out her, uh…giant maraca looking things…(if anyone knows the name of Shampoo's weapon I would appreciate it if you'd tell me)

"You wanna fight, you've got it!" Akane shouted, pulling out her mallet.

"Hey! Stop fighting! We have to start the search!" Karen yelled in a pointless attempt to stop them.

"_**Aiyaa!!**_" Shampoo yelled while she started swinging at Akane with her…weapons, missing several times before making contact.

"Ughh!" Akane was thrown into the wall, "**Grr!!** You think you can beat me with that!?" Akane yelled as she got to her feet, _**"Hiyaa!"**_ She yelled as she started swinging her mallet around furiously.

"**Aiyaaaa!"** Shampoo yelled as Akane's mallet made contact, knocking her into the air, luckily for her she managed to flip and land on her feet. "Shampoo no lose! _**Aiyaa**_" Shampoo shouted as she started swinging her…weapons at Akane, who blocked them with her hammer. This went on for a while before Shampoo finally hit.

"**Aaahhh!!"** Akane screamed as she was sent flying, unfortunately for her, she landed flat on her back. "It's gonna take more than that to beat me!" Akane shouted as she got up. "I've had enough of you!!" She said as she stepped toward Shampoo, her temper reaching its peak, so much so that you could see a red aura around her. "Take this!! _**Hiyaaa!!!!"**_ Akane yelled, swinging her mallet hard at Shampoo.

Shampoo, unable to dodge in time, was sent flying, "Aah!!" she let out a sharp scream as she was knocked into, and through a nearby wall, which just happened to be the wall of Ukyo's restaurant…

"_**No!**_ My okonomiyaki restaurant!" Ukyo yelled in horror as she stared at the gaping hole in the front of her restaurant. "_**Akane!!**_ Do you have any idea how much it's going to cost me to get that fixed!? I've been saving money for months so I could buy new equipment, and now I'm going to have to spend that money on repairs!! _**I will not tolerate this**_!!" Ukyo yelled furiously at Akane, and quickly proceeded to slashing at her with her giant spatula

"Is that-all you-have got!?" Akane said while she blocked the blows with her hammer.

"Better watch what you say, unless you want to lose!" Ukyo shouted. "Why don't you try blocking these?" Ukyo said before jumping back and throwing several small spatulas.

"Now you're using small spatulas!? I can block 'em easy!" Akane shouted, then raised her mallet to block…

**-BOOM-** the spatulas exploded on impact, causing the surprised Akane to stumble, and fall backwards.

"Wha-what was that!?" Akane asked, as she quickly got to her feet.

"I coated those spatulas with my special explosive okonomiyaki batter! That's what you get for underestimating me!" Ukyo said. "Still think you can win?"

"**GRRRRRR!!!!"** Akane's temper reached its max as she prepared to attack Ukyo.

"_**NO! NO!**_ Stop fighting!! Stop Stop Stoooop!! _Please_!" Karen pleaded.

"**But out!! We're busy!"** They both shouted, causing the already panicked Karen to cry.

"_sniff_-but I, was only trying to help…" Karen said sadly.

"**Hey!!** That's enough." Mousse shouted in Karen's defense, "You two apologize to her _right now_."

"huh?" The two girls suddenly realized whom they had just yelled at, and immediately went over to apologize.

"We're sorry, we weren't thinking. Can you forgive us?" Ukyo said.

"We shouldn't have let our fight get so out of hand." Akane said.

"I-it's okay, I forgive you." She replied timidly.

"Are you sure you're okay? Maybe we should postpone the search until tomorrow?" Ukyo suggested.

"_**NO!"**_ Karen blurted out, "I mean, we don't have time, he could go back to China any minute…we have to start looking_ now_." She said.

"But what about Shampoo and Ranma-honey? We can start the search without them." Ukyo said.

"…I can take care of that." Mousse said.

"But how?" They asked.

"Very easily," Mousse said walking over to Ranma. "Hey, _**Akane**_ is making lunch for you." He shouted.

"**WHAT!? **_**Where!?**_ The search, yeah, yeah, s-sorry Akane, but I have to go look for the salesman." Ranma quickly said before taking off at top speed towards the forest.

"…**MOUSSE!!!"** Akane said angrily, as a red aura surrounded her.

"I didn't do anything, it's not my fault if Ranma is scared of your cooking." He said cautiously._ "Though I can't blame him" _he added to himself.

"_**EXUSE ME!?**_ Did you say something!?" Akane asked.

""uh…_**NO,**_ I'm sure you're just hearing things…" Mousse said, and then made his way to Shampoo. _'I really don't want to do this…but if I don't…Why do I keep going out of my way to help her?'_ He wondered. "…Hey Shampoo, Ranma said he wanted to go on a date with you." Mousse said as convincingly as possible.

"Ranma! Is true!?" Shampoo asked as she quickly got to her feet and looked around, only to find that Ranma wasn't there… "Aiyaa! Who say that!?" Shampoo asked angrily.

"Who said what?" Mousse asked innocently. "Were you having a dream about Ranma again?" He asked, trying to sound upset.

"Was just dream?" Shampoo asked. "But seemed so real…"

"Come on Shampoo, you have to go with Ukyo and start looking for the salesman." Mousse said.

"I no want to!" Shampoo said stubbornly.

"…You sure? If you don't go with Ukyo then you'll have to come with me." He said.

"**Fine!** Shampoo go with Ukyo." She said reluctantly while walking towards Ukyo. "Come, we go search now, yes?" Shampoo said dragging Ukyo away.

'…_I never knew he could be so deceptive…I wonder if…'_ Akane thought, looking at Karen_ 'Nah, it couldn't be, he's in love with Shampoo.'_

"Well? Are we going to look for Ryoga, or just stand here all day?" Mousse asked.

"Right." Akane said, then she and Karen followed him.

-Meanwhile, Ryoga is still 'lost'-

'_What a strange place, it looks so familiar…I wonder if I've been here before?'_ Ryoga thought while he walked around in circles…in the park in Nerima…

-A few blocks away from where Ryoga is wandering, Ukyo and Shampoo are asking around-

"You sir, you see suspicious salesman?" Shampoo asked.

"A salesman? I haven't seen him but a friend of mine said he saw someone strange heading towards the bay." The man replied.

"The bay!? When he see?" Shampoo asked.

"Um…I think it was yesterday." The man said.

"Aiyaa is bad!" Shampoo yelled. "Ukyo! Is big trouble!" She yelled while running towards Ukyo.

"What is it? What did you find out?" Ukyo asked.

"Chinese man go to bay! He try go back to China, Is bad, no!?" Shampoo explained.

"He's going to the bay!? When was he seen!? Ukyo asked.

"Yesterday, he be almost there by know!" Shampoo yelled.

"This is bad, if he gets back to China we'll never catch him! We have to find the others, quick!" Ukyo said.

"Maybe we split up, cover more ground that way." Shampoo suggested.

"Good idea." Ukyo said. "I'll go look for Ra-" Ukyo started, but was cut off.

"Shampoo go look for Ranma! You go look Mousse!" Shampoo said while taking off towards the forest.

"_**Hey!"**_ Ukyo protested, but Shampoo was already out of sight. "rrr…I'll let her get away this _once_, but she won't be so lucky next time." Ukyo Said angrily to herself, and then ran the other way to look for Mousse.

'_Hmm…Karen said she was going to look for Ryoga but…I wasn't paying attention to what she said after that.'_ Ukyo thought while running through Nerima. "Ahhh!! She could be anywhere by now!" Ukyo Shouted.

-While Ukyo is looking for Mousse, Shampoo is looking for Ranma-

"Ranma! Where you go!?" Shampoo shouted while running past Furinken High, she still had a long way to go until she reached the forest_. 'Is bad, very bad. I need find Ranma quick, maybe he not yet reach forest…' _Shampoo thought while running. "I hurry, take shortcut!" She was about to jump over a nearby wall when.

_-SPLASH-_

"Oink!!(What!?)" An old woman suddenly splashed water on her. (You know, it happens to Ranma all the time when he's on his way to school) "_**Oioink!**_ Oink oink!?(_**Aiyaa!**_ How I find Ranma now!?)" She oinked as she fell back to the ground. "Oink, oink!(Shampoo make detour!)" She oinked and then turned around and headed towards the Cat Café.

-Meanwhile, Ryoga is still wandering around Nerima…-

"Now where am I?' Ryoga wondered, he had somehow manage to find his way out of Nerima's park, and was now 'lost' in an alleyway… "Ranma, Where are you!??" He shouted before walking deeper into the alley.

-A few minutes later, Shampoo reaches the café-

"Oink oink!(Great Grandmother!!)" She oinked while pawing at the door, luckily for her, Cologne was nearby.

"Shampoo? What are you doing here, I thought you were out searching for clues." Cologne said as she opened the door.

"Oink oink oink!!(Need hot water!! Find Ranma!!)" She oinked loudly.

"I don't know what you're trying to tell me, wait here, I'll go get some hot water." Cologne said and then went to the kitchen and came back with a kettle. "Here," Cologne poured the water on Shampoo, "now what were you saying?" She asked.

"Is bad! _**Very**_ bad! I need go find Ranma!" Shampoo yelled and then tried to run out the door, but was stopped by Cologne.

"Hold on, what is bad? Did you find something out?" She asked.

" Shampoo no have time to explain! Salesman may be already gone!" Shampoo said, then pulled away from Cologne and took off towards the forest.

-While Shampoo is going to get Ranma, Ukyo is looking for Mousse- 

"**Kaarren!! Mouuusse!! Akkaaaneee!!"** Ukyo Called out, hoping they would hear her, but no luck. _'They must be to far away to hear me…now what?'_ Ukyo thought while looking around for something that could help. "Ah-ha! That'll work!" She said when she saw someone with a megaphone. "Excuse me sir, could I please borrow that for a minute?" Ukyo asked the man politely.

"Well, since you asked so nicely, here you go miss." He said handing her the megaphone.

"Thank you so much sir…uh…you might want to plug your ears." Ukyo said before walking a few feet away and shouting **"KAAARRREEN!!!! AAAAKKAAAANNEEE!!! MOOUUSSSE!!! WHERE ARE YOU!? YOU NEED TO COME BACK I FOUND SOMETHING OUT!!!"** into the megaphone. "Okay, I'm done, uh…are you okay?" She asked the man who appeared to have fainted. "I'll just leave this here." Ukyo put the megaphone down next to him and ran to the place they were supposed to meet at.

-A few blocks away, Mousse, Karen, and Akane were feeling the 'aftermath of Ukyo's screaming.-

"Ahh, my ears!" Akane said holding her head.

"**WHAT!? I CAN'T HEAR YOU MY EARS ARE RINGING!"** Karen yelled.

"Why are you yelling so loud, I'm getting a headache…" Mousse said.

It took a few minutes before the effect of the noise had worn off enough for them to think straight.

"Was that Ukyo!?" Karen asked.

"I think so, who else would be calling our names?" Mousse replied.

"She must have found something, _**lets go**_!" Akane yelled, causing everyone to get a headache…

"Akane, you don't have to yell, my head is still pounding…" Karen said.

"Sorry." Akane said.

"Come on, we can worry about our possible loss of hearing later, we need to go see Ukyo now, if we don't find her she might try that again." Mousse said, then they all headed to the meeting place.

-While Mousse, Karen, and Akane were going meet Ukyo, Ryoga was setting up camp for the day-

"This looks like a good place to camp." Ryoga said before setting his backpack down and removing the tent. He put it up in record time, as to be expected from someone who doesn't know how to get home, and went inside when he was done … "I'll start searching again tomorrow, -Yawn- I could use a nap about now." Ryoga said to himself, and then lay down.

-Meanwhile, Shampoo had finally reached the forest-

"Ranma!! You here!?" Shampoo called, but received no reply. She took a deep breath and… **"RAAANNNMAAAA!!!!!!"** Yelled his name as loud as she could.

-THUD- Ranma fell out of a tree a little ways away…he was now lying on the ground, holding his head.

'_My ears, that was worse than the time Akane screamed into the microphone at me…'_ (reference to ep.157 'The Musical Instruments of Destruction')

"Ranma!" Shampoo yelled again, she was about to scream his name again.

"NOOOO!! I'M RIGHT HERE DON'T YELL!" Ranma shouted.

"Aiyaa! Shampoo find you at last! So glad!" She said happily.

"What did you want? I ain't found anything yet." Ranma said, still rubbing his head.

"Is bad, very bad news! Salesman go to bay, stranger saw suspicious person head to bay!" Shampoo said.

"WHAT!?" He yelled, causing his own head to start pounding again. "When!?"

"Yesterday! We hurry, go back to meeting place now!" Shampoo said then grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the meeting place.

-While Shampoo was bringing Ranma back, Karen and the others had just reached Ukyo-

"There you are! I was looking all over for you." Ukyo said when she saw them.

"Yes…we _heard_…" Akane said.

"What did you call us for? Did you find something out?" Karen asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid so, it seems that the salesman has gone to the bay, no doubt he's planning on returning to China. We have to act quickly or he'll get away!" Ukyo explained.

"When was he seen?" Mousse asked.

"The man we got the information from said yesterday. The boat that goes to China only deports once a week, he can't leave until tomorrow afternoon, if we hurry we might be able to stop him." Ukyo replied.

"But where is Shampoo?" Karen asked.

"She went to get Ranma-honey, I'm surprised she's not back by now…I wonder what's taking her so long." Ukyo said, "Let's wait a little longer for them."

-What _**is**_ taking them so long?-

(Near Furinken High)

"**MEOW!!!!(AAHHHH!!!)"**

"**OINK!!(Stupid lady! Why she splash water on us!?)"** Shampoo oinked angrily at the old woman, who seemed oblivious to the fact that two humans had just turned into animals.

"Oh, what a cute kitty!" The old woman said, picking up Ranma and petting him.

"Mew…(Help…)" Ranma meowed, to terrified to react.

"_**OINK!!(RANMA!**_)" Shampoo oinked loudly at him.

"M-meow?(Wha-what?)" He asked her. (They can understand each other while they're both animals)

"_Oioink!_ Oink oink oink!!(_Aiyaa!_ We have place to be, Stop slacking!)" Shampoo oinked unhappily.

"M….Me-ow…(O…O-kay…)" Ranma said as he somehow managed to struggle free from the old woman, then followed Shampoo…

-Back at the meeting place, Ukyo and the others were getting tired of waiting-

"Enough of this! We've been waiting for half an hour! Maybe Ranma went home, come on!" Akane said angrily and then headed to her house.

"But Akane! What if they show up when we're not here?" Karen asked worriedly.

"I never specified where we'd meet up…she might have gone there, we might as well look, Ranma-honey will come home eventually anyway." Ukyo said before turning to follow Akane.

"Okay, if you think so." Karen said, then she and Mousse followed.

-A little while later (about 7:00pm) Akane and the others arrive at the Dojo-

"Dad, I'm home!" Akane shouted as she took off her shoes and walked inside.

"Hello Akane, how was your day? Oh, I see you brought your friends. Did you find that man?" Soun asked her.

"No, but we know where he is now. I'll explain later, has Shampoo been here?" Akane asked.

"No, we haven't had any visitors today. Why?" He replied.

"Oh…I was hoping they'd be here." Akane said. "Come on guys, let's go to my room, we need to think of a plan." Akane said to the others, then started walking to her room.

"I guess Ranma-honey didn't come back, I do wonder what's taking them so long…" Ukyo said, as they walked by the porch.

"Maybe they got lost, speaking of _lost_, I'm getting worried about Ryo-…" Karen stopped walking.

What's wrong?" Akane asked.

Karen pointed to the backyard. "Isn't that Ryoga's tent?" She said, and everyone looked to where she was pointing.

"Only Ryoga could camp in Akane's backyard without noticing…" Ukyo said.

"**Ryoga!! Are you sleeping**?" Karen shouted.

"huh? Did someone call me?" Ryoga asked as he looked out of his tent. "A-Akane! When did you get here?" He asked cluelessly.

"Um…I live here, you're in my backyard." Akane replied.

"H-how did I get here?" He asked confusedly.

"Nevermind that, we've been looking for you all day, why don't you come in. I don't want you getting lost again…" Akane said.

"A-are you sure?" He asked.

"Of course, we're going to be leaving tomorrow, and could use your help." Akane said, "Come on, follow me to my room, we were all going to think of a plan for tomorrow."

"Okay!" He happily replied, then walked to the porch to follow her.

"Ukyo?" Akane said.

"Don't worry, I won't let him wander off." She replied.

Once they all reached Akane's room (which took longer than usual because Ryoga kept walking off…) they sat down to come up with a plan, of course, they hadn't been there for long before.

"_Nihao! Is Akane here?"_ They heard Shampoo yell from the other room.

"_Oh hello Shampoo, and Ranma too, how nice of you to visit, Akane's up in her room with her friends."_ Kasumi replied.

**Knock Knock** "Nihao!? Shampoo come in now?" Shampoo knocked loudly on Akane's door.

"Yes! You can come in." Akane replied.

"I finally here! Now we go to port, get salesman!" Shampoo said when she came in, followed by a half terrified Ranma.

"Good now that everyone is here we can begin our meeting." Karen said.

**End of Chapter**

Author's Notes: Shoo! That's the longest chapter I've ever written! I wanted to get this done before my tests, I'm probably going to take a break from writing for a week or so, my motivation depends on how many reviews I get, but I will not be updating Monday or Tuesday, I won't have time, and what little time I do have I will be spending enjoying my test-free freedom.(Did that make sense?) Anyway, I would really like to know what you think about this chapter, I'm trying a new style of writing, and I've never had so much going on at once in my story before…I was supposed to explain something…what was it? Oh right, I know there may be some inconsistencies with the time, but I did the best I could, and it's really hard when they're all split up…this chapter was more focused on the others than Mousse and Karen, but don't expect it to stay that way…or maybe, The next chapter is mostly about Akane and Ryoga, I think that's enough information for now. oh, and please check my profile, I have two(if that's possible) Polls, one of which I will need an answer for before the next chapter. I'm also thinking of changing my avatar for each chapter, in other words, I'm thinking of drawing a special picture for each chapter and using it as my avatar until I post the next chapter(I hope that makes sense) I have already made one for this chapter, but will leave Karen's picture up a little longer, this may be your last chance to find out what she looks like! I will switch avatars when I'm done with my testing on Wednesday.

And I'm going to warn you in advance, this story is going to be big, at this point I have no idea how I want to end it, and when I do I will probably come up with more. I have a feeling that I'm going to come up with a lot more, Mousse and Karen' stories. Since I have a lot of ideas for other shows also, I might do them in my spare time, or when I get stuck on this.

I also want to thank ScourgeOfTheGalaxy for reading and reviewing, you're advise is always welcome! I do hope your next chapter is done soon. –Misao2008


	4. The Plan

**The Switch**

**Chapter 4: The Plan**

-The Tendo Dojo, Akane's room, 7:30pm-

"Do we really need to plan? We have to go to Tokyo Bay and stop him." Ukyo said.

"But we need to fill Ryoga in, we can't leave him here or he won't be _**cu**_-err…able to help us." Karen quickly corrected herself.

"Right, I hadn't thought of that." Ukyo said.

"Fill me in on what? Did you find something out about-" Ryoga was interrupted by Karen, who quickly thought of a way to stop him without Akane's getting suspicious.

"Um, Ryoga, you'll never believe what happened, everyone has been cursed with something different now. Aren't you glad that _**you **__**aren't **__**cursed**_?" She said, stressing the 'aren't cursed' part.

"Oh, _r-really_? Everyone? How strange." Ryoga said, realizing how close he was to giving away his secret.

"Yes, everyone…." Karen said, starting to realize how difficult it was going to be to keep Ryoga's secret now. _'Ah…what about Shampoo? If Akane finds out about her then…no, no not good' _She thought while shaking her head.

"Is something wrong?" Akane asked.

"_**NO**_, uh, no, I was just…uh…" Karen couldn't think of any excuses.

"I hope the salesman hasn't already made it to China." Mousse said, trying to give her an excuse.

"_**Right**_ I was just thinking how terrible that would be!" Karen said quickly. _'I owe him one for that…'_

"No more waste time! We go to port now, find salesman, good?" Shampoo said.

"But leaving right now won't do any good, it'll be dark soon." Ukyo said. "Perhaps we could all stay here for the night, after all, thanks to _**someone **_I now have a whole the size of small room in the front of my house…_Maybe_ if you're _**really**_nice, and help with the repairs I won't charge you for the damage." Ukyo said to Akane.

"Uh…Yes, why not stay, but what about Shampoo? She doesn't live that far away." Akane said.

"Shampoo go now, you be sorry when I get cure first!" Shampoo said.

"No, I don't think that's a good idea, for all we know he's trying to split us up so he can capture us." Mousse said.

"…" They all thought about this for a while.

"Dinner is ready!" Kasumi shouted from the other room, "I made enough for your friends too, why don't you all come down and eat."

"Actually, dinner doesn't sound bad." Karen said.

"Now that I think about it, I don't beleive any of us has eaten since this morning." Mousse said.

"Great, I'm starving!" Ranma shouted, and headed out the door, the thought of food snapping him out of his fear, the others followed.

"Here you go. I hope you like it, I wasn't sure what your friends like, so I made a little of everything" Kasumi said.

"Wow! You made this all by yourself?" Karen asked.

"Why yes, I always do the cooking." Kasumi replied.

"That's incredible!" Karen said.

"Thank you dear, how does it taste?" Kasumi replied in her usual happy manner.

"All right! Time to dig in!" Ranma shouted before quickly shoveling rice into his mouth with his chopsticks. The others just stared at him.

"_**Ranma! **_We have visitors, so **DON'T BE SUCH A PIG!**" Akane said as she hit him in the head, causing him to do a face plant into his rice…

"Akane! What d'ya do that for!?" Ranma yelled, wiping the rice of his face.

"Don't eat like a pig, it's rude!" Akane shouted, at this point the others were starting to get second thoughts about staying here. "Oh, I'm so sorry, please go ahead and eat." Akane said when she noticed that everyone was staring at her.

"Yeah, if we don't now, Ranma will eat it all…" Ukyo said, and they all started eating.

"So tomorrow we're going to Tokyo Bay?" Ukyo asked.

"mm? If we don't he'll get away, we should pack anything we might need today, that way we can leave first thing in the morning." Karen said.

"I think we should come up with a back-up plan in case we are to late." Mousse said.

"If that happens then the only option we'd have would be to follow him to China." Ukyo said.

There was a long pause as everyone thought about that.

'…_If he goes to China I'll have an excuse to follow him there, Then I won't have to worry about Akane anymore.'_ Ryoga thought happily.

'_China is bad! If Shampoo return with no husband, be punished' _Shampoo thought.

'_There ain't no way it'd be that easy…We'd end up having to swim there.' _Ranma thought.

'_China? Yes, if I set up an Okonomiyaki booth there I'll be rich!'_ Ukyo thought.

'…_No way I'm going back to China! They treated me worse there than Shampoo does.'_ Mousse thought.

'_China…If Ranma went there he could be cured…but something always goes wrong…'_ Akane thought.

"…_? China? I wonder what it's like there?'_Karen wondered. (She forgot about Jusenkyo)

"It'd never work, I really don't want to swim to China." Ranma said.

"You're just afraid of turning into a cat, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let him get away!" Karen said.

"I-I am not!" Ranma shouted.

"A…_cat? _Ranma turns into a _**cat?**_" Ryoga said. "**Hahahaha! **You finally get what you deserve!"

"And what of you? I haven't seen P-Chan around lately, I wonder where he could have gone?" Ranma said. "_**Ahh!**_ But I'm sure he'll be back…hehe" He said when he noticed the 'say another word and you'll regret it' look Karen was giving him.

"Hm?" Akane looked at Karen, who quickly resumed eating.

"There's no point in worrying about it, I'm sure everything will work out in the end." Karen said happily.

'_How can she be so happy all the time?' _Everyone wondered.

"uh, is something wrong?" Karen asked, "Why are you all staring at me like that?"

"You're always in such a good mood…aren't you worried at all?" Ukyo asked.

"Well, worrying only makes everything harder. Things could always be worse; I think it's better to look at the bright side. If he gets away we'll just have to follow him to China, it's not like the world's going to come to an end." Karen said.

"Are you all done eating?" Kasumi asked.

"Hmm? Oh, yes, do you want us to help clean up?" Karen asked.

"If you'd like. But you don't have to help." Kasumi replied politely.

"Of course we'll help." Karen said cheerfully, oblivious to the fact that she'd just volunteered everyone to help, whether they liked it or not.

Everyone followed Kasumi to the kitchen, except Ryoga, who got lost and ended up in the bathroom…

"Oh my, with everyone helping this won't take long at all." Kasumi said when they reached the kitchen. "But, where is Ryoga?"

"I think I saw him wandering off towards the bathroom." Karen said.

"Well then, why don't we begin? Mousse, Karen and Ukyo, you three can help me wash the dishes. Ranma and Shampoo can dry them, and Akane can put them away. How does that sound?" Kasumi said.

"…Why do I have to wash the dishes? I don't want to get wet." Mousse said.

"But Ranma and Shampoo will turn into animals if they get wet…I don't want them to break anything." Kasumi explained.

"What about _Akane_?" He asked.

"…Oh my, just look at the time, we'd better start, I don't want to make you stay up too late." Kasumi said before going to wash dishes.

"Oh come on Mousse, if you get wet you can always use hot water to go back to normal." Karen said.

"…Fine, I'll help with the dishes." He said and then went with the others to help wash dishes.

It didn't take them long to finish, and when they were done Kasumi had gone to get blankets for everyone.

"I wonder where Ryoga went, you don't think he left the house, do you?" Karen asked Akane while they were spreading the blankets out on the floor.

"…I hope not, maybe we should look for him." Akane replied.

"Do you want me to go look?" Karen asked.

"If you'd like to, we don't want him getting lost now, we'd never find him in time." Akane said.

"Okay, I'll go look." Karen said and walked off. _'hm… last I saw he was headed towards the bathroom, I should start looking there.' _She thought as she headed to the bathroom. "Ryoga! Are you in there?" Karen asked when she got to the bathroom…but received no reply. _'I guess he's not there…maybe in Akane's room?' _She thought then headed to Akane's room. "…Not here either…Where could he have gotten too?" She said aloud when she looked in Akane's room.

-Meanwhile, the unfortunate Ryoga somehow ended up in Nabiki's room…-

"Don't worry Ryoga, I'll lead you to Akane…" Nabiki said.

"Really, thank you Nabiki!" Ryoga said.

"**IF** you hand over 500 yen." She added, holding out her hand.

"…No way! I'll find Akane myself." Ryoga said, and headed for the door.

"Whatever you say, don't come crying to me when you end up in Kyoto, and Akane leaves you behind." Nabiki said.

"…_**Fine**_, 500 yen!" Ryoga said giving her the money. "Now take me to Akane."

"Of course, this way please." Nabiki said, and lead him out of her room and down the hallway.

"Ryoga! There you are." Karen said when she noticed him. "I was afraid you'd wandered off."

"A pleasure doing business with you, she can lead you the rest of the way." Nabiki said before turning around and walking back into her room.

"Hey!" Ryoga shouted.

"Sorry, no refunds." She said from behind the door.

"Come on Ryoga, Akane and I made beds for everyone." Karen said before dragging Ryoga downstairs.

"But Nabiki! My money! She cheated!" He shouted.

"There's no point in trying, the day Nabiki _gives_ someone money is the day pigs fly." Karen said.

"You found Ryoga! Good, so he didn't leave." Akane said when Karen came back with Ryoga.

"Nope, Nabiki found him…" Karen said.

"Oh, _Nabiki_…Did she take your money Ryoga?" Akane asked.

"Don't worry about that, I don't mind." Ryoga replied.

'…_that's not what he was saying a few minutes ago…'_ Karen thought. "We should probably go to bed now, that way we won't be tired in the morning. And Ryoga…" She said.

"What is it?" He asked.

"If you wake up first, try not to get lost." Karen said.

"…um…okay." He said.

"Akane." Karen said.

"What?" She asked.

"Where is Mousse?" Karen asked.

"There wasn't enough space so Mousse is sleeping in the Ranma's room." Akane answered.

"Oh…I see." She said a bit sadly.

"Why?" Akane asked.

"_**Oh no**_! No reason really, I was just wondering where he went." Karen answered quickly.

"Hmm…Really, is that _**all**_?" Akane said mischieviously.

"Wh-what do you mean?" Karen replied.

"Oh nothing, it's still pretty crowded in here, did you want to sleep in my room?" Akane asked.

'_I hope Mousse and Ranma don't end up fighting…'_ Karen though.

"Karen!" Akane shouted.

"Huh? Um, did you say something?" She asked.

"I asked if you wanted to sleep in my room." Akane said.

"Oh, really? I don't want to impose on you more than I already have." Karen replied.

"No, not at all. If not for your exellent planning everyone would be running around in panic." Akane said.

"Okay then, if you insist." Karen said, then followed Akane to her room, and they went to bed.

**End of Chapter**

Author's Notes:Wow…Sorry if it's a short chapter (Not really, but compared to the last one…) I was going to have them go to the Tokyo Bay, but if I added that then the chapter would be way to long…Think of this as a filler chapter, maybe my story won't be so rushed now. Strange how it works though…I say I'm on a roll, and then get writers block, I say I'm not going to update and then type up the next chapter with barely any effort…maybe I should say I can't update more often? Eh, it doesn't matter, did anyone notice how Kasumi sidestepped Mousses question without anyone noticing? I figured that's what she would do, I don't see her saying anything mean, even if it's true. and sorry if Ranma and Shampoo didn't say much...I had to stop and think about who was there, and who had already said something...Having so many people talking to each other is very difficult, not to mention confusing, I may change a few things later, I see some places that could be improved.

**Important Notice:5/10/09-I apologize but I seem to have a very bad case of writers block, I have been making steady progress all day, but very slowly. But I will not abandon this story, or any story, I know all to well what it's like to be on the other end of that. Also, due to the length of the next chapter, I may divide it into two or three chapters, possibly delaying Ryoga's chapter...again...**

I usually reply to replies by p., but since not everyone has an account and because I want to try it this way, I'll include replies at the end of each chapter too…I feel guilty if I can't thank everyone…

Review replies

Digital Dragon Productions: This time I have to thank you for your advice, but what's wrong with being a girl and getting along with Mousse? After all, I'm a girl, and Karen's personality is based almost entirely on mine. (I bet nobody knew that) The biggest difference being that I would probably be jealous of Shampoo. And thanks a bunch for the bill idea, I hadn't thought of having Ukyo make the Tendo's pay the damage bill, and I have wanted to use Nabiki for something. I guess I have one more chapter to figure out how to do Ryoga's secret(Which was supposed to be in chapter 3…nothing ever goes as planned…) But thanks for the ideas. I hope I didn't sound offensive last time.

ScourgeOfTheGalaxy: Even though I'm pretty sure I've already thanked you, It made me feel really happy to see my name in someone elses(your) story, so I'll thank you again anyway, I do hope you'll continue reading and reviewing, maybe someday my story will be as good as yours.


	5. Ryoga's Secret

**The Switch**

**Chapter 5: Ryoga's Secret**

-The next morning-

Time to get up!!" Karen yelled when she came downstairs.

"What you yell for? Is only 6:30." Shampoo said drowsily.

"Mmm? It's still dark out…we can't leave now." Ukyo said, then laid back down

"I said **_GET UP_!** We still have to get ready, do you want to be a p-" Karen stopped when she remembered that Akane was with her. "-_cursed_ forever?" She shouted.

"What? Is no way! I get done first!" Shampoo shouted before hopping to her feet, and running into the bathroom to change.

"…Ukyo, wake up!" Karen said as she gently shook Ukyo awake.

"I'm sorry, Ucchan's is closed for the night, please come back tomorrow…" She muttered before falling back asleep…

"Ukyo! This is no time to be sleeping, you don't want Ranma to be a cat forever do you?" Karen said.

"Huh? Ra-Ranma-honey? Must wake up…" Ukyo slowly got up and went to get ready.

"Okay, that takes care of those two, now for the boys…" Akane said.

"Umm…wasn't…Ryoga supposed to be in here?" Karen asked.

"You mean…he's _not_?" Akane asked worriedly.

"You don't think he got up and wandered off…do you?" Karen asked.

"Oh no…of all the times for him to get lost… I'll go wake up the boys, you look for Ryoga, he doesn't usually go far at night.

"Got it! I'll find him." Karen said and then they split up.

'_Maybe I should get Ukyo to help me…Ranma's never been a morning person…'_ Akane thought while walking up the stairs to Ranma's room.

"All right, here goes." She said to herself before opening the door to Ranma's room. "WAKE UP RANMA!" She shouted when she entered the room.

"Huh? Is it morning already?" Mousse said as he reached for his glasses. "Hey, wait…It's only 6:30…"

Ranma didn't stir…

"RANMA. WAKE! UP!" Akane shouted angrily, but received no response. She was about to hit him with her mallet, but Mousse stopped her.

"Wait! If you do that he'll never wake up!" Mousse shouted.

"You got a better idea!?" Akane asked.

"It's too bad really; if Ranma doesn't get up now he'll have to eat Akane's cooking." Mousse said casually.

"TIME TO GET UP!" Ranma shouted as he jumped out of bed and ran out the door.

"_MOUSSE!"_ Akane said angrily.

"Um…I'm going to go get ready now." He said while backing out of the room.

-While Ranma and Mousse are getting ready to leave, Karen is looking for Ryoga-

"Ryoga! Where are you?" Karen shouted, she had already checked every room in the house, and was starting to worry. "Ryoga!!" She shouted again. But still no response…

-Back at the other side of the house, Mousse had already changed, and was getting something for Akane-

'_She said there was a map in here.'_ He thought, and then reached to open the closet door. _'Hmm? The door is locked, that's odd.' _He pulled out a key from his sleeve and unlocked the closet. "Now to get the map." He said to himself as he opened the door…

"Free at last!!" Ryoga yelled as he jumped out of the closet.

"…Ry-Ryoga? What were you doing in the closet?" Mousse asked.

"_Closet?_ I though I was in a cave." Ryoga replied clueless…

"…Why would there be a cave in _Akane's house_?" Mousse asked.

"Why am I at Akane's house?" Ryoga asked.

"…What do you mean _why!?_ How could you forget something so important!? You're here so you can find the salesman and _cur_-" Mousse stopped when he saw Akane come around the corner.

"Mousse! What's taking you so long!?" She asked.

"Uh…I was getting the map but…Ryoga…" Mousse replied.

"Oh, now I remember why I'm here!" Ryoga said. "I came so I could be c_-OUCH!"_ Ryoga shouted when Mousse stepped on his foot. "Hey! What did you do that for Mousse!?" Mousse just gave him a dumb look. "…Um right, as I was saying, I'm here to _help_ you find the salesman."

"Ryoga…Were…you in the closet the whole time?" Akane asked.

"Closet?" He replied clueless.

"…Never mind…" Akane replied while rubbing her forehead. "Come on Ryoga, we have to get ready to leave." She said before walking back to the other room.

"Wait for me." Ryoga shouted and then followed her.

'…_Do weird things like this happen a lot here?'_ Mousse wondered as he watched Akane and Ryoga walk away. "How am I going to find the map now?" he said aloud, staring at the mess Ryoga had made.

"Ryoga!!" Karen shouted as she turned the corner, and ran into Mousse. "Urf- Oh, I'm sorry Mousse. Have you seen Ryoga?" She asked.

"Uh…he was in the closet…" Mousse replied, pointing to the closet.

"……" Karen stared in disbelief for a moment. "_Okaaayy_, um…why was he?" She asked.

"I have no idea, but how am I going to find the map now?" Mousse asked.

"Map?" Karen asked.

"Akane asked me to get a map of Tokyo Bay…but Ryoga made a mess of the closet." He replied.

"I'll help you look!" Karen said happily.

"Are you sure? Don't you have to get ready too?" Mousse asked.

"I woke up earlier, so I'm already done." She replied before starting to dig through the mess Ryoga left.

"Ah! I found it!" Karen shouted, pulling a piece of paper out from under something. "Is this the right map?"

"Yes, That's it!" Mousse said.

"All right then! We're ready to go!" Karen shouted. "But…maybe we should re-organize the closet, I think Akane has enough to worry about right now." She added.

"Hmm? I guess we have time, but we have to hurry." Mousse said.

-Half an hour later, Mousse and Karen had finished putting things back into the closet, and everyone had gathered in the main room-

"Okay! Is everyone ready to leave?" Karen asked.

"Yes!" Everyone answered…except Ranma, who was sleeping…

"Ranma!" Karen shouted. "This is no time to be taking a nap!" She yelled and proceeded to shaking him awake, or trying to…he started snoring.

"RANMA!" Akane yelled. "Wake up right now _or else!"_

He rolled over and mumbled something along the lines of 'stupid un-cute girl' before starting to snore again.

Akane was now furious, and glaring angrily at Ranma. "RANMA! Die you idiot!!" She yelled as she pulled out her mallet and knocked him across the room, through the wall and into the pond.

-SPASH- "MEOW!!!" He screeched, jumping out of the pond.

"A-Akane…" Karen started, "Don't you think you went a bit…_overboard_?"

"Hah! That's whet he gets for calling me un-cute!" She shouted.

"but… How can he help if he's a cat?" Karen asked.

"Here Ranma! Hot water fix you!" Shampoo said while pouring a kettle of hot water on him, apparently she had gone to get warm water right after Akane hit him.

"Shampoo," Ranma shouted, "you saved me-OW!" Shampoo hit him over the head.

"For one time Shampoo agree with Akane!" Shampoo shouted at Ranma. "Is bad you lazy, even stupid duck-boy more useful than you!" She said angrily.

"…Stupid duck-boy?" Ukyo said, "Is she referring to Mousse?"

"eh? _Hey!_ Don't call Mousse stupid!" Karen yelled when she heard Ukyo. "And besides he's not a duck anymore!"

"I call _stupid_ Mousse whatever I want! _Stupid_ girl!" Shampoo yelled.

"Stop calling him stupid!" Karen yelled. "At least he's not mean! And he's not stupid either!"

"What you call when he talks to statue?" Shampoo yelled.

"That has nothing to do with it; he only talks to inanimate objects because he's not wearing his glasses!" Karen yelled back.

"He stupid for not wearing glasses!" Shampoo argued.

"Grr! At least he can talk normal! You can't say a single sentence without misusing words, or completely omitting them." Karen yelled.

"You dare insult Shampoo! I make you pay!" Shampoo yelled, preparing to attack.

"STOP!" Mousse shouted.

"huh?" Karen said.

"If you fight now we won't make it to Tokyo Bay in time." He said.

"Oh, that's right! We have to hurry, Is everyone ready now?" Karen asked.

"Fine, Shampoo settle score later." Shampoo said unhappily.

-it only took a few minutes to get everything in order, and they all headed to Tokyo Bay.-

"Where going to find that salesman and make him regret messing with us!" Ryoga shouted before walking of…the wrong way…

"Um…where is he going? If he goes that way he'll end up in Kyoto…"Karen said. "Ukyo?"

"_Yeah, yeah_, I'll keep an eye on him." Ukyo said, then ran after him. "_Ryoga!_ Get back here you're going the wrong way!!"

"eh? Oh…okay." Ryoga said when Ukyo caught up.

"Okay, everyone is ready now." Ukyo said.

"All right off we go to Tokyo Bay!" Karen shouted before turning around to follow the map. Everyone follow me." She shouted.

A few minutes later, the group left Nerima, headed towards Central Tokyo on their way to Tokyo Bay.

"Oh man, I hope we find that Chinese dude," said Ranma. "I hate being a cat, it's like my worst nightmare. Shampoo, how do you do cope?"

"Shampoo no know, Shampoo just manage." Shampoo replied. "Shampoo not scared of cats, because Shampoo's father not too-too stupid and throw daughter in pit of cats. It not so bad being pi—"

"Shh!" said Ryoga in Shampoo's ear. "Akane's here, she might find out! I don't want her to know that I'm really P-Chan!"

Shampoo was about to laugh at Ryoga before she saw the fear in his eyes. The fear that Akane would hate him. Sure, it'd make him stronger than ever – he knew how to do the Shishi Hokoudan – but it'd rip him apart. Shampoo nodded. She'd try and avoid water as best she could for Ryoga's sake, since she turned into his pig form.

Ranma had also noticed what Shampoo could have accidentally revealed, and started talking loudly to Akane about a Martial Art technique involving calming down. Of course, Akane took this the wrong way and used her mallet on Ranma's head, burying him in the pavement. Ranma's last thoughts were: _'At least she didn't hear Shampoo… Ooh, pretty lights…'_

Ryoga carried Ranma the rest of the way on his shoulder, and a few hours later, they arrived in Tokyo Bay. Mousse and Shampoo went to the border control to talk to the officials.

"Hi, we'd like to ask you if you've seen this man?" Karen asked, pulling out a rough drawing based on what she had been told about the Salesman.

The official looked at the picture and tried to place the face. "Yes, I believe I saw him getting on a boat headed for Mainland China a few hours ago. I'm sorry, but the next boat isn't for a couple of days."

"OK, thank you sir. Sorry for wasting your time." Karen said.

"Not at all." The man said before they left.

"This is bad, Mousse." Karen said. "The salesman has already gone, and we can't follow him for a few days! What are we gonna do?"

"Wait." Said Mousse. "That's all we can do, unless we swim there, and I don't think we'd be able to do that."

Karen nodded. Mousse could swim, Ryoga could fly, and Shampoo could fly with Ryoga whilst… What would Ranma do? Actually, what would Akane and Karen do? Akane could probably manage the swim, but Karen certainly couldn't…

"Looks like we're waiting for the next boat, then." Said Karen.

Karen and Mousse went back outside to rejoin the rest of the group, when Mousse noticed something was different. _Is it me, or is the group smaller?_ He thought. _Where are Ranma, Ukyo and Shampoo?_

As if answering his unasked question, Ryoga pointed towards the missing martial artists, two of which were fighting over the third. No points for guessing who were who.

"Argh, Ranma you _PERVERT!_" Akane shouted at the group. Karen just shook her head. _What is with those two? They're fine one minute, and hate each other the next…_

"Hey, whilst we wait for the idiots to stop fighting, lets go to the beach!" Ryoga said. "There's one right over there, I can see it!" He pointed about forty degrees too far to the left. Akane grabbed his arm and pointed it in the right direction.

"Ryoga, that's a great idea!" Karen said. "There won't be another boat to China for three days, so we may as well enjoy ourselves here. Lets go!" She pulled Ryoga towards the beach, Akane and Mousse following behind.

A while later, the four friends lay on the sand, Karen and Akane lay on towels sunbathing in their swimwear. Ryoga was desperately trying not to look in their direction, pinching his nose, whilst Mousse just looked out to sea without his glasses on.

"Aah, it's such a nice day." Karen said. Akane sighed in agreement. "I'm glad we bought our bikinis, I could really do with a tan."

Ryoga looked towards the outline of Mount Fuji, remembering the days and weeks that he spent there, training to defeat Ranma, as well as the times he was lost.

Sometimes, he wished for those days again. Sure, actually being able to get from place to place was nice, but it was because of his sense of direction that he was who he was today. His inability to find his way out of a closet, like earlier on, made him sick, but it was because of that, he met Akane. If he'd never followed Ranma to China, gotten cursed and been adopted by Akane he'd never have met her. He was almost than—_NO! What am I thinking! Ranma's my __ENEMY!_ Ranma thought to himself furiously. _I can never forgive him. Darn you, Ranma!_

Suddenly, two – no, three high pitched female shrieks interrupted his thoughts. _Three girls? But only Akane and Karen are here. Mousse isn't a gi—_

"Oh no."

The wave crashed over him, changing Ryoga into his new cursed form of a duck. As his sight was suddenly obstructed by the sudden appearance of clothes far too big for his body, he quacked loudly out of surprise.

As Ryoga struggled to get out of the clothes that were now dripping wet, he insinctivly ruffled his wings to get the water out of them. The sound, however, attracted the attention of the three nearby girls. Mousse looked at Ryoga carefully, probably thinking about the times that he was a duck himself. Karen looked at him out of worry and pity, which confused Ryoga. Akane looked at Ryoga with worry and… was that fear in her eyes?

"Ryoga?"

"Quack?" (Yes?)

"You- You're cursed?"

**End of chapter**

Author's Notes: First I'd like to thank ScourgeOfTheGalaxy for helping me complete this chapter, I couldn't have done it without his help. I wish I could say I'm back on track now, but I really can't, it's not that I don't have ideas, but I've been busy lately(see profile for info) I'll get arounf to it as soon as I can, but I don't know when that will be. And this might also be a good time to inform everyone that I will be going on vaction next month...I can't remember the exact date though...


	6. Ryoga’s Secret Pt 2 :Akane’s reaction

**The Switch**

**Chapter 6: Ryoga's Secret. Pt. 2 :Akane's reaction**

There was a long pause while Akane slowly came to realize what had happened.

"R-Ryoga! W-what's going on!?" Akane yelled.

"Quack! Quack!!(Akane! I'm sorry!!)" Ryoga quacked, but Akane couldn't understand him. By now Ryoga was starting to panic, flailing his wings about, he desperately tries to explain…

"Ryoga, calm down." Karen said, "Mousse go get hot water, hurry!"

"Uh, right!" Mousse said as she ran off.

'_This is bad, really bad'_ Karen thought, _'I need to do something before it's to late…but what? I hope Mousse gets back soon…'_

There was dead silence, Ryoga was too worried to think straight, Akane was still trying to understand everything, and Karen…just wished she wasn't there. After what seemed like forever, Mousse finally got back with some hot water, and poured it on Ryoga, then 'her'self.

"A-Akane! It's not what you think." Ryoga stuttered, I-I wanted to tell you, really I did but…"

"**Enough!!"** Akane cut him off "You mean all this time you were cursed? And you didn't tell _**ME!?**_ Even _Karen_ knew about it, how could you keep something so important from _**me**_!? You-" Akane stopped, having just realized something. _'Wait, If Ryoga is a __duck__…then his curse was swapped too…Mousse is a girl, Ranma's a cat…then, what __was __Ryoga?'_ Akane wondered about this for a moment, completely oblivious to Ryoga's desperate attempts at apologizing, when she noticed something else. _'The bandanna! I-It's the same one p-chan always wears! Then…Then P-chan is…' _Now that she thought about it, it all made perfect sense, why P-chan ran away when she tried to bathe him, why he didn't get along with Ranma, and why Ranma always teased Ryoga about it, how could she have missed it? But then, she remembered other things, that he slept in bed with her, how she told him things she didn't want anyone to know, and how he pretended to be her pet! _'How could he lie to me like that!?'_ She thought angrily. "Ryoga!" She yelled, "How could you lie to me like that!!? I trusted you, and you had the nerve to pretend to be my pet!? You **STUPID JERK !!**! I hate you!!!" She screamed at him, then ran away crying.

"Wait!! Akane!! I can explain!" Ryoga yelled, running after her.

"Shuddup! I don't wanna hear your excuses!! You _**JERK!"**_ She yelled, spinning around and wailing him with her mallet, sending him flying into the ocean, then continued running.

"Quack!!! Quack-quack!!!(Akane!! Wait, I'm sorry!!!)" Ryoga quacked while trying to swim to shore, but not yet being accustomed to his new body, ended up swimming in circles.

"Ryoga!" Karen shouted, "Are you okay? I'll save you!" She said, preparing to jump in to get him, but was stopped mid-air by Mousse. "L-let go!!" She said, flailing her arms about.

"You can't be serious, do you know how strong the currents are out there? You'd be pulled out to sea before you could even reach Ryoga. If the fool would use his head for a minute in stead of panicking he'd realize that he can fly to shore." Mousse said, putting Karen down.

"But…he's to panicked to think straight…" Karen said worriedly.

"I wouldn't worry, since he's floating on the water the current should bring him ashore eventually." Mousse said.

"I-if you say so." Karen said.

"Quack! Quack! Quack! (Help! I'm drifting Away!!)" Ryoga quacked loudly while being pulled down shore by the current.

"See, he's already starting to drift away." Mousse said then pointed…to a rock…

"um…Maybe you should put you glasses on…you're pointing at a rock…" Karen said, grabbing his arm and pointing it at Ryoga, who was indeed drifting away_. 'How did he know Ryoga was drifting if he was looking at a rock??'_ She wondered.

"A rock? Where?" Mousse asked, putting his glasses on. "oh…I guess there is a rock…We'd better follow Ryoga, or he'll get lost when he comes to shore." He said, walking down the beach.

"Okay, but…where is Ukyo? And Shampoo and Ranma are still missing too." Karen said, noticing the absence of her friends.

"Hmm?" Mousse looked around. "I thought they'd be back by now, Are they still fighting over Ranma?" He said, "Either way, I'm sure they have a better chance on their own then Ryoga, let's worry about the others after we catch up to him."

"Okay." Karen said, then followed him.

After walking down the beach for a few minutes Karen noticed that Ryoga seemed to be getting farther away. "Uh, Mousse." She said.

"What?"

"Ryoga's almost out of sight, what if we lose him?" She asked.

"If we lose him we probably won't find him for at least a week…let's not worry unless it happens, if we keep going this way we'll find him eventually. I hope…" Mousse replied.

'…_Hope?'_ Karen thought worriedly.

-While Mousse and Karen were falling behind, Ukyo was looking for them farther down the beach-

'_Where could they have gone?'_ Ukyo wondered, scanning he coast for her friends. _'I don't see them anywhere…'_ "Wait, What's that?" She said, looking at what appeared to be a ball of white fluff drifting in her direction. After a closer inspection she recognized it to be Ryoga. _'But why is he a duck? And where are the othe-'_ She stopped when she realized that Akane had been with him. _'Oh, no! If Ryoga's a duck then…' _"Ah! He's drifting away!" She said aloud then quickly plunged her spatula into the water and lifted him out. "Ryoga, What are you doing! This is no time to be drifting around!" Ukyo yelled.

"Quack! Quack! Quack!?(Akane! Akane! Where are you Akane!?)" He quacked frantically.

"I can't understand you, wait here and _**don't move an inch from this spot. Do you understand me!?**_**"** Ukyo stated loudly and clearly while giving him a 'if you move I'll fry you' look.

Ryoga nodded, then sat down, knowing that he needed to be human if he was going to have any hope of Akane forgiving him. _'What now…Akane hates me… Why? WHY!? Why do these things always happen to me!?'_ He wondered.

After what seemed like hours, Ukyo had come back with hot water. "Here Ryoga, now what's going on?" She asked, pouring the hot water on him.

"_**AKANE! WHERE ARE YOU AKANE!!**_" He shouted.

_-WHAM-_Ukyo hit him with her spatula. "Don't yell so loud!!! That hurt my ears!" She shouted at him. "Now tell me what happened." She asked, though it was more like demanded.

"W-wave, wet, Duck…Akane!! **A-Akane!!!**" Ryoga shouted in panic.

"Ryoga! Quit speaking gibberish and tell me what happened!" Ukyo said, getting annoyed. But Ryoga was to panicked to think straight, and just kept repeating the same thing… just when thinks were looking hopeless, and Ukyo was about to strangle Ryoga, Mousse and Karen showed up.

"Ukyo! You found Ryoga!" Karen shouted, running over to her friend.

"Oh? So you know what happened?" Ukyo asked.

"You mean Ryoga didn't tell you?" Karen asked.

"All he keeps saying is something about Akane and a wave…it's getting annoying." Ukyo responded.

"eh…um, well, you see, Since you and Shampoo were fighting over Ranma, we decided to go to the beach and…a big wave came in and soaked Ryoga and Mousse…in front of Akane… Needless to say, Akane didn't take it well, she went into one of her fits, screamed that she hated Ryoga, and ran away…" Karen explained.

"What? She said she hated him? I knew something had gone wrong when I saw Ryoga drifting down shore but…I didn't think she'd go _that_ far." Ukyo said, a bit surprised.

"She didn't even give him a chance to explain, we have to hurry and find her, for Ryoga's sake." Karen said, pointing to Ryoga, who was looking even more depressed than usual.

"But what about Ranma-Honey?" Ukyo said, not really caring what happened to Shampoo. "He wandered off somewhere while I was… _distracted_…"

"I'm sure he'll be fine, unlike Ryoga he can find his way home." Karen replied.

"…But what if Shampoo is with him?" She asked.

"… I don't see why that's a problem…if any of you would pay attention you'd know who Ranma really likes." Karen said.

"Who!?" Ukyo asked.

"I'm-not-telling," Karen replied, waving her finger at Ukyo, "you'll have to find out yourself."

-It only took a few minutes to convince Ukyo that Ranma would be fine, and they headed off in the direction Akane went. And about 3 minutes later they ran into Ranma and Shampoo…-

"Ranma-honey! You're all right!" Ukyo shouted while happily running over to him.

'…_ugh…why can't these girls leave me alone?'_ Ranma wondered. "Of course I'm okay, don't make it sound like I'm Ryoga!" Ranma shouted, he was in a bad mood after being with Shampoo all day. "…Hey…Where's Akane?" Ranma asked.

"She…um" Karen said, worrying how Ranma would react.

"She what!?" Ranma shouted impatiently.

"Well…

-so Karen explained to Ranma what happened (there's no reason for me to type the same thing twice, is there?)-

"What!?" He shouted, "Akane ran off!? Grr! Ryoga you je-_WHAM_-OWW!!" Ranma yelled after being hit by Mousse, and Karen. "You lookin' for a fight!?" He retaliated.

"_**R-A-N-M-A!!"**_ Karen shouted, giving him the death glare he usually receives from Akane.

'_S-scary, sh-she looks just like Akane when she's mad…'_ Ranma thought, backing a few steps away.

"Where do you think you're going?" Karen said angrily, "You'd better not think you can run away."

"N-no! I wasn't running away…eh-heh…" Ranma said awkwardly, half-expecting Karen to pull out a mallet and send him flying into the sea…

"Good." She said in a disturbingly sweet tone. "Now, you're going to help us find Akane, and _be nice to Ryoga_…_**right?" **_Karen clearly demanded.

Ranma simply nodded his head, worried that Karen would get angry again…

"Stupid girl save crazy girl if want, Shampoo go do something worth time." Shampoo said, not realizing her mistake…

"Excuse me? So you're not going to come with us and look for Akane?" Karen said, starting to omit an angry aura, "Well, that's fine, I'll make sure you're left behind when we go to China." She stated clearly, and oddly, wasn't the slightest bit afraid of Shampoo…

"Aiyaa! You make Shampoo mad now!" Shampoo yelled, pulling out her bonbori and prepared to fight.

"Karen! What are you doing? This is no time to be starting a fight!" Mousse shouted.

"Don't worry, I have everything under control." She said confidently. "Let's make a bet, if you win you can do whatever you want, but if I win, you help us find Akane. Sound fair?"

'…_huh? What is she talking about? And how can she be so confident?'_ Mousse wondered.

"Is fine with Shampoo, Aiyaa!!" Shampoo shouted, swinging her bonbori at Karen, who surprised everyone by pulling a short sword from seemingly no-where, and blocked Shampoo's attacks.

"Is that all you've got?" Karen taunted.

"W-why you! When you learn use sword?" Shampoo asked.

"I'm-not-telling." Karen replied, waving her finger at Shampoo.

"Stupid girl, you think I lose? I not even trying! Aiyaa!!" Shampoo shouted, swinging her bonbori at Karen, this time much faster.

"Karen! Look out!" Mousse shouted, preparing to jump in if things got to rough, but incredibly enough, not only did Karen manage to block them, she was able to fight back, and cut one of Shampoo's bonbori in half.

"Wh-What!? How you do that?" Shampoo asked.

"It's a secret." She stated.

"hmm…" Ukyo said, staring at Mousse.

"eh-huh? Why are you staring at me like that?" Mousse asked.

"Her technique looks _awfully_ familiar…you haven't been teaching her anything…_have you_?" Ukyo asked.

"Wha-what? _**No,**_ of course not." He replied.

"If you say so…" Ukyo replied.

"I'm telling you, I have no idea where she learned that." Mousse said, trying to convince Ukyo.

"I won! So now you help us with Akane, right Shampoo?" Karen said victoriously.

"_Fine_…Shampoo help, but only since I promise…" Shampoo said reluctantly.

"So, Karen, any idea where Akane might have gone?" Ukyo asked.

"Well…she might have gone back home…" Karen replied.

"Might?" Ukyo said.

"Why would I know? I can't really relate to how she feels right now…I would have reacted _differently_…._much differently_." Karen responded.

"I guess you have a point… seeing as how the first thing you did when you found out about Mousse was nearly hug him to death." Ukyo said.

"E-eh!? H-how did you know that!?" Karen said, starting to blush. "Wh-who told you!? Who!?"

"It's-a-secret" Ukyo said, teasing Karen"

"Wh-wha? No fair, that's my line!" She said.

"I'll tell you if you tell me where you learned to use the sword." Ukyo said.

"…No way!! I'm not telling Shampoo!" Karen shouted, pointing to Shampoo.

"Um… shouldn't we be looking for Akane?" Mousse asked.

"Right! I forgot!" Karen shouted.

'_f…forgot?'_ "Well, we'd better hurry, if we don't sort out this mess soon, we won't be able to take the next boat to China…" Mousse said.

"Right! Let's head back home!" Karen shouted, then they all headed back to Nerima.

**End of chapter**

Author's Notes: _**YES! I can write again!!**_ I know this chapter is really short, but it was a very convenient way to end it, thinks are going to start getting easier for me know…at least until the China part… I have no clue what will happen then… oh, and if you're wondering, since Karen has absolutely no romantic intrest in Ranma, she can tell who he really likes,. And if her personality seems to have changed a bit it probably because I've been in a pretty good mood lately, and she _**is**_ based of me.

Anyway thank's a million ScorgeOfTheGalaxy for telling me the name of Shampoo's weapons, I'm going to go with bonbori, because I think I've heard them called that once. (And Chui just doesn't fit right…) Now that I'm done with this chapter I'll finally be able to read yours.

So far no-one else has reviewed…but if hundreds of people are reading this how can none of them review? How sad…all my hard work…and only one person cares…


	7. Akane, Forgive Me!

**The Switch**

**Chapter 7: Akane, Forgive Me!**

First It's important to know that, although it is not mentioned at the time, Ryoga goes to Ukyo's because Shampoo won't take him, he certainly can't go to the Tendo's, and Mousse's house is pushing it as is with two people living there. (yes, technically Karen is living there now) And also, I didn't really re-read this when I finished writing it, so there may be a few mistakes, I will fix those later.

**Bold** words inside - - in this chapter are Ranma's speech when he's on the phone, still means change in location or time if not bold.

After a long walk, everyone finally reached Nerima, it was almost night, and they were all tired, so they decided to go home and rest up before worrying about Akane, and that if she was back home as Karen speculated, Ranma was to call Karen, but not make a fuss about it to Akane, or even talk to her (As Karen insisted). And Sure enough, Akane was indeed back home…

RING! RING!

"Eh? Who could be calling so la- OH, Mousse, the phone! I bet

it's Ranma, answer it!" Karen shouted.

RING! RING!

"Mousse?" Karen said when he didn't answer. "…Eh!? How can he fall asleep so fast!?" She said, running to the phone to answer.

"Hello?"

**-Karen, good, listen, it's about Akane- Ranma said on the other side.**

"Is she there?" Karen asked.

**-…She is but…- His voice faded off.**

"What? Is something wrong?" Karen asked, starting to worry.

**-well…my old man says she came home hours ago, but…- He paused for a moment, -as soon as she did she locked herself up in her room, and not even Kasumi could reason with her…- His voice faded out again…with a hint of worry that Karen could pick up on.**

'_He's really worried about her…how sweet! No, this is no time to be thinking about that.'_ Karen though, waiting for him to continue, but got worried when he didn't. "Ranma? Are you okay? I hope your not to depressed by all this." She said.

**-Wh-who's worried? It's just not like her to react this way is all, It's weird, nothing more.- He denied loudly.**

'_Sure__…but saying it that way just makes it more obvious that he __is __worried.'_ Karen giggled as she thought this.

**-Wh-what's so funny!?- Ranma shouted.**

"Oh, _nothing,_ so do you want me to come over tomorrow? Maybe I can reach her." Karen asked.

**-R-right… Kasumi is really starting to worry.- He said.**

'_So in other words, __you__ are really worried…'_ Karen thought. "Okay, I'll come over tomorrow and see what I can do, in the mean time make sure Ryoga doesn't do anything stupid, if he tries apologizing now it could ruin his chances for good." She stated. "Oh, and whatever you do, _**don't let Shampoo in the house**_, I'm sure she'll try to take advantage of this situation somehow." She added.

**-Okay, later- CLICK- He said as he hung up.**

CLICK-Karen hung up, "As much as I don't want to, I guess I should wake Mousse up." Karen said, walking over to where he was sleeping. _'…Ka-wa-ii! He's so cute when he's sleeping'_ She though, staring at him for a minute. _'…No! Snap out of it Karen, you can watch him sleep later, right now you have more important things to think about!'_ She thought to herself. "…wait…watch him sleep…_later_? _**No! NO!**_ I shouldn't be thinking like that!" She said to herself rather loudly, waking Mousse up.

"Hmm?" He said, rubbing his eyes. "…_EH?_ When did I fall asleep?" He said when he remembered what had happened earlier.

"Oh, good, you're awake!" She said a bit awkwardly.

"Did something happen?" He asked.

"Well, it seems as though I was right, Akane is home but…she won't let anyone in her room and is refusing to talk to anyone." Karen explained.

"Really? She's gone that far? I thought she would go into her usual fit of rage… So what are we going to do?" Mousse asked.

"I told Ranma I'd come over tomorrow to see if I could calm her down." Karen said.

"But what if you can't?" He asked.

"…No idea." She stated.

"…"

It was silent for a few moments.

"You think we should come up with a plan B?" Karen asked, almost as if she was perfectly confident in plan A…

"Seeing as none of her family was able to reason with her what makes your chances any better?" He asked.

"Well, I'm an outsider so…haven't you ever had a problem you didn't want to talk to your family about? Sometimes it's easier to talk with friends." She explained.

'…_what friends?'_ He thought. "But Ranma isn't related, and you don't seem to think he has any hope." Mousse said.

"He always makes things worse when it comes to these kind of problems." Karen replied.

"…You do have a valid point…" Mousse said.

"Well, anyway, there's no point sitting here worrying, we should get some sleep, tomorrows going to be a long day." She said.

"It is getting pretty late…you're not going to get me up a 5, are you?" He asked.

"Of course not, Akane will be sleeping then." She replied, turning and walking towards her room.

"Good." Mousse said.

"I'll wake you up at 6." She stated.

"Huh!?"

"Just kidding!" She said giggling, " How does 7:30 sound?" She said.

"…That's fine." Mousse replied before heading to his room.

(It would be so easy if I could just end the chapter here…but I won't be lazy)

-The next morning, 7:30-

-YAWN- Karen yawned and stretched as she got out of bed. _'Okay, gotta go wake Mousse up now'_ She thought, quickly changing her clothes and heading to Mousse's room. "Mou-" She started. _'…he's so cute when he's sleeping'_ she thought, staring at him for a moment. "…Ack! What am I doing!? I have more important things to do than-"

"Karen…what are you shouting about?" Mousse asked, having been woken up by the commotion.

"_**EH!?**_ Um…_nothing,_ I was just thinking that it's going to be difficult to convince Akane." She said awkwardly. "S-so hurry up and get ready, we need to leave soon." She said, leaving the room.

'_I can't believe I did it again…what's wrong with me? Maybe I should talk to Ukyo about this…'_ Karen thought worriedly.

"Okay, I'm ready. But what about breakfast?" Mousse asked when he came into the room.

"…I hadn't thought of that…" She said. "Umm…maybe we can eat when we get there…"

"Wouldn't that be rude?" Mousse said.

"uh…I'm sure I'll think of something on the way, so lets go." Karen said.

"Wait…weren't you supposed to be going alone?" He asked when he realized he'd somehow been dragged into this.

"uh, I might need your help if things get…_out of hand_…" Karen said.

"You fared well enough against Shampoo, I don't think Akane will be a problem…speaking of which, when _did_ you learn how to fight?" Mousse asked.

"Eh……come on! Let's go we're gonna be late." Karen said then quickly hurried out the door.

'…_why won't she answer?' _Mousse wondered, then followed her.

-They were halfway to Akane's house when Karen had an idea-

"I got it!" She shouted.

"Got what?" Mousse asked.

"We can go to Ukyo's first, that way we can check on Ryoga, and get something to eat." Karen replied. "…Do you have any money on you?" She asked.

"…not much…"Mousse replied, pulling two 30 yen coins out of his sleeve.

You gotta be kidding me!" Karen shouted in shock. "Don't tell me that's all the money you have!"

"Actually…yes." He said. "even though we walked, the traveling expenses to buy food and water stacked up for the day we were gone." Mousse explained.

"…Traveling expenses!?" Karen suddenly shouted. "Oh no! How are we going to afford the trip to China!?" She asked.

…there was dead silence for a few minutes.

"We're doomed…the only ones who have any money are Shampoo and Ukyo…If ant of the rest of us could of afforded it we would have been cured long ago" Mousse said gloomily.

"Eh? Um…Ch-cheer up! It's not that bad, I'm sure we can think of something, let's go to Ukyo's, I have some spare change on me, I'll pay for it." Karen said, feeling bad for depressing Mousse. _'but I don't have enough for a meal… I'll have to beg Ukyo…' _She added mentally.

-A few minutes later they arrived at Ukyo's and went inside, only to find Ukyo tying Ryoga to a post…-

"Uh…Ukyo…what are you doing?" Karen asked.

"Hm? Oh, what are you doing here? Don't you have to go see Akane?" Ukyo said.

"I thought I'd stop by to see how Ryoga was doing…" She said, pointing to Ryoga, who was now firmly tied to a post…

"Eh…well, he kept trying to find Akane, and I'm trying to open up shop so…" Ukyo replied.

"And…can I talk to you for a minute…alone?" Karen asked.

"Oh…why is Mousse here?" Ukyo asked when she noticed him.

"To help of things get out of hand." She responded quickly, then walked over to Ukyo and they walked into the back room.

"So what did you want to talk about that you couldn't tell Mousse?" Ukyo asked.

"Well…a few things. First…I only have 30Yen…can you make us breakfast and let me pay you back later? Second…about the money…how are we going to afford the trip to China? And third…I've been acting strangely around Mousse lately…is something wrong with me?" Karen asked.

"Uh…in order, yes, I'll gladly make breakfast for you, don't worry about the pay. The fare to China…I hadn't thought of that… We might all have to get part time jobs to pay for it… And…acting strange how?" Ukyo answered.

"Really? Thank you, I guess you're right about the jobs though… and um…it's weird but last night and this morning when I tried to wake him up I found myself zoning out and thinking how cute he is when he's sleeping…" Karen replied, blushing a bit at the last part

"Is that all? Don't worry, I've had that happen with Ranma before. Come on, I'll go make you and Mousse breakfast." Ukyo said, walking out of the room and into the kitchen. "So what would you two like me to make?" She asked.

"The usual." Karen answered.

"Got it, have a seat, I'll have it done in a few minutes." Ukyo said while turning on the stove(Or whatever the long stove-like thing she cooks on is called) and preparing the batter. "So you really think you can reason with Akane?" Ukyo asked.

"Well…it's worth a try. And we won't be able to catch the salesman if she's in this state." Karen replied.

"Or the state Ryoga's in." Mousse added, pointing to Ryoga, who was giving off the most depressing aura possible…

"…Is Ryoga okay?" Karen asked Ukyo.

"Like I said, he was causing problems so I had to get him out of the way." Ukyo responded.

"Are you sure it's okay to tie him up? If he gets upset…you might end up with a large hole in your restaurant where the post should be attached." Karen said.

"…I hadn't though about that…I'd better go get some water." Ukyo said.

"W-wait! I can't talk to him if he's a duck! You'll only depress him more!" Karen protested.

"If you say so…" Ukyo said. "Your food's ready, eat it while it's hot."

"Okay." Karen said, then she and Mousse started eating.

When they were finished Karen went over to talk to Ryoga.

"Ryoga? Are you feeling okay?" She asked.

"…A-ka…ne…" He said gloomily.

"Uh…R-Ryoga!? Snap out of it!" Karen said worriedly, but got no response. "Ryoga!! Earth to Ryoga!" She shouted, this time waving her hand in front of his face…but still nothing. "Mousse, I think something's wrong with Ryoga!" She said.

"He's just going into 'lack of Akane arrest' He'll be fine once we talk to Akane…**And get her to talk to him**." He said the last part a little louder, hoping to get Ryoga's attention…but it failed.

"Ryoga! Ryoga!" Karen shouted, starting to panic. "Mousse, where are you going? C-come back and help me with Ryoga!" She shouted when she noticed mousse walking away…towards the kitchen.

"Ukyo, can I borrow a bucket?" Mousse asked.

"But what do you…_Oh,_ sure you can." Ukyo replied.

"M-Mousse!? What are you doing? Won't that make things worse?" She shouted when she realized what he was up to.

"You honestly think he could get worse?" Mousse asked, walking towards Ryoga.

"eh…I guess you have a point…" Karen replied, moving out of the way.

-SPLASH- "QUACK!!!(AKANE!) Ryoga, now free of the ropes, was quacking loudly while running in circles.

"I think you made him worse." Karen said.

"Ryoga quite running around!" Mousse yelled, grabbing Ryoga as he tried to head for the door. "And where do you think you're going!? Do you want Akane to hate you forever!? If you would just calm down and **stay here.** Then we will go talk to Akane. Once we've calmed her down you can go see her,_** understand**_!?" Mousse shouted strictly.

"Q-quack!" Ryoga quickly nodded his head.

"Good, now _**stay here**_." He demanded. "We will come get you when Akane is ready to talk." He said, putting Ryoga down.

Ryoga nodded and sat down.

"See, isn't it a good thing I brought you with me? I'm only good at being strict when I'm really angry." Karen said.

"…I'm sure you would have thought of something." Mousse said, turning around to leave.

"H-hey wait for me!" Karen said, running out the door after him.

-It didn't take them long to get to the Tendo's, and Karen was starting to worry a bit-

"…I hope this works…" Karen said nervously.

"Why are you so worried now? You seemed so confident earlier." Mousse asked.

"o….Of course! I'm _very _confident!" She stated nervously before walking to the door.

"…If you say so." He said then followed her.

"Ranma! I'm here!" Karen shouted, knocking lightly on the door.

"Oh, hello there Karen." Kasumi said when she opened the door. "Oh my, and Mousse too, please come in." She said, opening the door further and gesturing them in.

"Good to see you again Kasumi, is Akane still in her room?" Karen asked once she had taken off her shoes and gone inside.

"Yes, would you like some tea before you go talk to her? Or perhaps some snacks?" Kasumi said in her usual cheerful way.

'…_How can she be so calm at a time like this!?' _Mousse and Karen wondered.

"Uh…no thank you, Is it okay if I go see Akane now?" Karen asked.

"Of course, do be nice to her okay?" Kasumi replied.

"Of course, I get along fine with Akane, why would I be mean?" Karen said, walking to the stairs.

"Do you want me to wait here?" Mousse asked.

"…hmm…" Karen thought about this for a moment. "You're better at convincing people when you know how they're feeling, it would be easier if you came with me." She answered.

"Okay." He replied, following her to Akane's room.

-KNOCK KNOCK- "Akane, are you in there?" Karen asked.

"_**Go Away!**_ I'm not in the mood!" Akane yelled.

"But you'll get sick if you don't come out, I'm worried about you." Karen said.

"I'm_** fine!**_ So stop worrying!" Akane yelled.

"You don't sound 'fine' to me, you might feel better if you talk with someone." Karen said.

"Why!? Someone like you couldn't possibly know how I feel! How would you feel if Mousse did what that jerk did!!?" Akane shouted.

"…mmm… I would…" Karen paused for a moment to think about this. "be angry…but, I would also give him a chance to explain…and if…_like Ryoga_, he couldn't tell me because he was afraid, I would forgive him…though I'd still be mad, I wouldn't let my anger cloud my judgment, because Mousse is a good friend, and I wouldn't just toss him aside. Isn't Ryoga your friend? Are you really going to hate him forever?" Karen asked.

"…Wh-why should I forgive him?" Akane said shakily. "H-he lied to me…"

'_Now she's in denial mode…'_ Karen thought. "How do you think he feels right now?" Karen asked.

"I don't know…Angry?" Akane responded.

"**No.** He's not angry, not at all. He's miserable, ever since you yelled at him at the bay, he hasn't said a single sentence that hasn't had your name in it, all he can think about right now is you, and he won't cheer up no matter what I, or anyone does." Karen said.

"He's…_miserable_?" Akane asked.

"Yes, the only one who can cheer him up right now is you." Karen said. " At least let him talk to you."

"…O-okay…I'll talk to him." Akane reluctantly agreed. "Let me get ready first."

"Not a problem. I'll wait downstairs" Karen said, then walked away.

"I guess I was it was okay after all, I didn't even need your help." Karen said to Mousse while they waited on Akane.

"Were you really that worried?" Mousse asked.

"Well, I just kept thinking about what would happen if I failed, then it seemed so much harder…" She replied.

"Okay! I'm ready!" Akane shouted as she came down the stairs. "…why is Mousse here?" She asked.

"…To help with Ryoga." Karen stated, gesturing to Mousse not to tell her anything unnecessary.

"Ryoga?" Akane said confused.

"We went to check on him on the way here, he was basically in a panic and wouldn't listen till Mousse about strangled him." Karen explained.

"…_okay_." Akane said.

"Right, so let's go to Ukyo's." Karen said and then headed to the door.

"_Ukyo's_?" Akane asked.

"Oh right, since Ryoga doesn't have a house, or at least, doesn't know where it is, we agreed that he would stay with Ukyo until things settled down." Karen replied.

"Oh, I see…" Akane said sighing. "Let's get this over with." She said, getting her shoes and walking out the door.

-After a short walk, they reached Ukyo's restaurant-

"Ukyo! Are you busy?" Karen asked as she walked into her restaurant.

"hm? No, not right now. Why?" Ukyo asked.

"I brought Akane, I need to talk to Ryoga before I let him talk to her though…or he might freak out." Karen said.

"Oh, Ryoga. He's been rather quiet since you left, last I saw he was sitting in the back room." Ukyo said, pointing to the door.

"Right, thank you." Karen said, then walked into the room.

"Ryoga, I have good news. _**BUT**_-" She said loudly before he could react and run off, "you have to listen to me for a minute first."

"What? What news!? Is it about Aka-…I'll be quiet now." He said when he noticed her glaring at him.

"Good!" She said happily. "Now, yes, it _is_ about Akane, I have convinced her to come talk to you," She noticed Ryoga getting happier. "_**HOWEVER**_," She shouted to keep his attention. ", you can't freak out, if you mess up you may not get another chance. So when you talk to her you need to 1: stay calm, 2: explain things clearly, and 3: apologize, but don't overdo it, you'll just annoy her. Understand?" Karen asked.

"Yes, stay calm… Explain, apologize! Can I go see her now?" Ryoga asked.

"You're not calm…but since you're not panicking I guess it's okay." Karen said.

"Thank you, I owe you one for this Karen." Ryoga said, then walked out the door…the door that leads to the broom closet… "Why is it so dark in here? How does Ukyo cook like this?" Ryoga asked cluelessly.

"…All right. I'll take you to Akane, now get out of the closet." Karen said, grabbing his arm and dragging him outside to Akane.

"A-Akane…" Ryoga said nervously. "I'm sorry…I-I wanted to tell you, but I though you would hate me… can you ever forgive me?" He begged.

There was silence for a moment

"…fine" Akane finally said.

"R-really? Thank you Akane!" Ryoga said happily.

"**HOWEVER,** I'm still mad, don't think you can get off the hook that easy." She said.

"eh?" Ryoga said worriedly.

"Looks like she finally forgave him." Karen said to Mousse.

"But…was it worth the price?" Mousse asked.

"Let's go home, I don't want to get in her way when she's angry." Karen said before walking off.

"Agreed." Mousse said, then followed.

**End of Chapter**

Author's Notes: Wow, that's one long chapter, and it's completely different from what I had planned… Oh well, as long as it's done, you can think for yourself what Akane's going to do to Ryoga, I have no intention of telling.(and honestly don't know myself) Is anyone else bothered by my mid-chapter references? I can't completely remove them, but I guess I could do a little better. The next chapter is about…should I tell you? How about I give a hint, Ukyo's idea about 'getting jobs' Hehe, it's gonna be fun.

On to the review replies:

ScourgeOfTheGalaxy(Can I abbreviate that next time?) So far you are the only one to review constantly, and thanks for telling me about the Bonbori(It's easier to remember then…uh…chui?) I noticed you started another Ranma fic, I'll have to check it out later. (And so Misao2008 adds on to the long list of things 'I'll have to do later…)

Ganheim-…Honestly I'd prefer not to have gotten your reviews, even thought you say you're not flaming, there is such a thing as 'over' criticizing, If you are going to make a list of mistakes that big, at least put in one thing I did right, or I think I'm completely messing everything up. I don't ask for you to say I'm doing great or anything to much, just tell me something I did right…Surely you must like _something_ about my story.


End file.
